Student violence against teachers - Teachers' well-being and the belief in a just world

This paper presents two studies investigating student violence against teachers in Slovakian secondary schools. The studies aimed at gauging the prevalence of student violence (Study 1) and at testing the hypothesis that teacher well-being can be explained by student violence and by teachers' belief in a just world (BJW) (Study 2). Study I examined a representative sample of 364 teachers in one of the eight Slovakian provinces, and found that 177 (49%) of them reported at least one experience of violence in the last 30 days. Reports of violence were particularly widespread in vocational schools in the provincial capital. Study 2 investigated a sample of 108 teachers at Slovakian vocational schools, and found that 60 (55%) of them reported at least one experience of violence in the last 15 days. The more violence the teachers reported, the more often they experienced negative affect, the less often they experienced positive affect, and the less satisfied they were with life. Finally, the BJW was adaptively associated with teacher well-being in terms of life satisfaction and positive affect. For victims of violence, BJW was further associated with negative affect: the more they believed in a just world, the less frequently they experienced negative affect. Consequences for research on teacher health and organizational justice research are discussed.