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consent forms and completed surveys were kept in locked filing cabinets in the research

lab at The University of Florida. There is no way to connect a specific survey to a

specific consent form.

 Questions on the overall survey were related to a variety of sensitive issues from

victimization, aggressive behavior, and relationships with parents to adverse mental

health symptoms. For this reason, participants were told to contact the school counselor if

they felt upset or uncomfortable. The name of the school specific counselor was provided

in the verbal assent process. Because the research team cannot match individual

responses to specific participants, individual interventions were not implemented.

However, if a participant became visibly upset during the survey, he or she was referred

directly to the school specific counselor.

Sample

 The sample includes all of the middle school students that completed the

measures specific to this study during their participation in the "The National Middle-

School Survey: School Violence and Beliefs About Self, Others, and the Future" (Miller

et al., 2001). Survey data were projected to be collected from 5000 middle-school students

in four states (Florida, California, Texas and New Jersey). Only the data from Florida and

California were completed at the time of this analysis. The measures of interest for this

study were removed from future testing plans. Therefore, this study includes data from

California and Florida only. A variety of geographic locations (e.g., rural vs. urban) were

surveyed. Nonprobability, purposive sampling procedures were used to obtain a sample

that is overrepresentative of African American and Hispanic adolescents.

 Representative percentages vary based on which national statistics are utilized.

According to the 1999-2000 public elementary and secondary school enrollment statistics