University students’ opinions regarding school vandalism in Turkey

In this study, the aim is to determine university students’ opinions regarding school vandalism. The study group consisted of 203 first-to fourth-year students studying at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Yıldırım Beyazıt University; Gazi Faculty of Education, Gazi University; Faculty of Health Science, Kırıkkale University; Faculty of Education; Faculty of Education, Hacettepe University; Faculty of Agriculture, Omer Halis Demir University; Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences; Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Faculty of Education in Spring 2016–2017 academic year[AQ: Please approve edits made to sentence ‘Faculty of Education. . . ’]. In this study, university students’ views regarding school vandalism form were developed by the researcher in order to determine the views of university students. The study is a descriptive type of study. These forms consisting of 20 items were designed as a five-point Likert-type scale. The frequencies and percentages will be calculated later on. It was found that students’ positive perceptions about damage to the property by someone exposed to violence. On the other hand, their most negative perceptions were increase in vandalism as the students’ age increases.


Introduction
The amount of violence and vandalism in the schools is gradually increasing.There are some teachers, parents and especially students are affected by this problem negatively.Dogan and Demir (2012) stated that people damage personal or institutional property around them in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons.Using coping strategies to deal with the problems in life phases particularly during adolescence and expressing anger constructively necessary to a healthy community (Tambag & Oz, 2005).Thus, examining the underlying reasons for violence, taking pre-emptive measures to prevent violence and minimising violent behaviour when it happens has attached great importance (Aydogan & Ozyurek, 2013) given that vandalism is one of the most important problems in our schools today.Vandalism occurs as result of personal or environmental factors and may hinder education in schools.

The aim of the study
In this study, the aim is to determine the views of university students about school vandalism.

Method
The studies aiming to define a situation, which already exists or existed in the past, are studies designed according to scanning model (Karasar, 2003).In this study, an existing situation was analysed since the study aimed to determine university students' opinions regarding school vandalism.Therefore, this study is a patterned research designed according to scanning model.

Participants
In this study, the aim is to determine university students' opinions regarding school vandalism.The study group consisted of 203 first-to fourth-year students studying at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Yıldırım Beyazıt University; Gazi Faculty of Education, Gazi University; Faculty of Health Science, Kırıkkale University; Faculty of Education; Faculty of Education, Hacettepe University; Faculty of Agriculture, Omer Halis Demir University; Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences; Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Faculty of Education in Spring 2016-2017 academic year.The number of female students participating in the study was 136 (66.99%), and the number of male students participating in the study was 67 (33.01%).

Data collection tool
The university students' views regarding school vandalism form was developed in order to determine university students' opinions regarding school vandalism.These forms consisting of 20 items were designed as a five-point Likert-type scale.

The analysis of the data
The frequencies and the percentages obtained from the form were computed.

Findings
In this section, you can see the frequency (n) and percentage (%) distributions according to the answers given to the items in the 'university students' views on school vandalism'.As can be seen in Table 1, 8.8% of students completely agree, while 32.4% said that they strongly agree with the adverse behaviour in the class depends on physical inadequacy of the class.As can be seen in Table 2, 0.5% of students strongly disagree, while 48.0% said that they strongly agree with the adolescents' desire to adapt influences violence.As can be seen in Table 3, 2.0% of students strongly disagree, while 38.2% said that they strongly agree with the adolescent's destructive behaviour is related to the educational level of the parents.As can be seen in Table 4, 4.4% of students strongly disagree, while 52.9% said that they strongly agree with the damage to the property by someone exposed to violence.As can be seen in Table 5, 1.0% of students strongly disagree, while 44.6% said that they strongly agree with the affecting student psychology of school environment.As can be seen in Table 6, 2.0% of students strongly disagree, while 45.1% said that they strongly agree with the applying to school vandalism when the individual thinks that they are not treated equally.As can be seen in Table 7, 2.5% of students strongly disagree, while 45.6% said that they strongly agree with the vandalism triggered by competitive school environment.As can be seen in Table 8, 2.5% of students strongly disagree, while 47.5% said that they strongly agree with the increase in school property damage behaviour as students are influenced by friends.As can be seen in Table 9, 2.5% of students strongly disagree, while 45.6% said that they strongly agree with the school administration's decisions to increase school vandalism.As can be seen in Table 10, 2.5% of students strongly disagree, while 37.3% said that they strongly agree with the change of school vandalism according to gender.As can be seen in Table 11, 0.5% of students strongly disagree, while 51.0% said that they strongly agree with the increasing school vandalism by not valuing students' ideas.As can be seen in Table 12, 2.5% of students strongly disagree, while 46.1% said that they strongly agree with the harmful behaviours of young people trying to prove themselves.As can be seen in Table 13, 2.9% of students strongly disagree, while 47.1% said that they strongly agree with the school vandalism are influenced by exam results.As can be seen in Table 14, 3.4% of students strongly disagree, while 41.7% said that they strongly agree with the subsequent acquisition of violence and aggression.As can be seen in Table 15, 1.0% of students strongly disagree, while 39.7% said that they strongly agree with the increased vandalism in school due to increased computer use.As can be seen in Table 16, 2.5% of students strongly disagree, while 47.1% said that they strongly agree with the vandalism emerging due to inadequate enforcement of school rules.As can be seen in Table 17, 2.0% of students strongly disagree, while 50.0% said that they strongly agree with the emergence of vandalism with insufficient classroom control of teachers.As can be seen in Table 18, 1.5% of students strongly disagree, while 41.7% said that they strongly agree with the effect of violent events in mass media on devastating behaviour.As can be seen in Table 19, 5.4% of students strongly disagree, while 28.4% said that they are undecided with the increase in vandalism as the students' age increases.As can be seen in Table 20, 1.5% of the students strongly disagree, while 46.6% said that they strongly agree with the tendency of vandalism in schools in high-violence individuals.

Discussion and Suggestions
In conclusion, the study findings revealed that the most positive perceptions of university students regarding school vandalism are damage to the property by someone exposed to violence and increase in school vandalism by not valuing students' ideas and the emergence of vandalism with insufficient classroom control of teachers, whereas their most negative perceptions are increase in vandalism as the students' age increases and the adolescent's destructive behaviour is related to the educational level of the parents and adverse behaviour in the class depends on physical inadequacy of the class.The findings of the relevant published studies suggest that students who are subject to violence or feel undervalued by their environment are likely to have a tendency towards vandalism.Also, lack of student-teacher interaction may give rise to vandalism.In light of our findings, we can say that vandalism is a behaviour that may manifest later in life.These findings are in accordance with some other published studies (Gokyer & Dogan, 2016;Karaman & Yurtal, 2015;Kesimli, 2013;Tunc, Yıldız, & Dogan, 2015;Unisen & Demirbag, 2016).The results of this study could be used to develop guidance programs about vandalism for parents, teachers and students.Students who have been subject to violence or who feel undervalued should be offered an individual or group psychological guidance.Psychological guidance programs could also be prepared for these students.In light of findings revealed in the scope of the present research, future research may investigate whether there is an association between cultural, personal, social or any problem they experience and the different support mechanisms that university students in Turkish society perceive as compensation for psychological counselling.Also, there is a need to introduce the psychological counselling and guidance services in the universities and raise awareness among students about the contribution of the counselling and guidance programmes to the students' life, which are tailored to students' needs.