An investigation of students’ willingness to report threats of violence in campus communities

Objective: This study extends prior work on students ’ willingness to report threats of violence to college-aged populations. Method: Undergraduate students (N 967) were sampled from a large university in the Southern U.S. Results: Almost seventy percent (69%) of students endorsed being “at least somewhat willing ” to report a threatening peer. Trust in the college support system (e.g., trust in police, administrators) was positively related to students ’ willingness to report threats of violence. Similarly, feeling connected to the campus environment was positively related to willingness to report threats directly and indirectly through trust in the college support system. In contrast, delinquency was negatively related to willing-ness to report and self-efficacy toward service (i.e., the belief that one can have a positive impact) only was positively related to reporting in the presence of trust in the college support system and campus connectedness. Lastly, fear of negative evaluation was unrelated to students ’ willingness to report. Conclusion: To facil-itate threat reporting, it is important for students to feel connected to the campus community and trust in members of the college support system as self-efficacy toward service is not sufficient by itself