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Published on: September 17, 2019
Violent adolescents and their educational environment: a multilevel analysis.
Judit Thurnherr1, André Berchtold, Pierre-André Michaud
1Research Group on Adolescent Health, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics : JDBP
|August 21, 2008
Summary
This study on youth violence found that personal factors like sensation seeking and environmental factors like school environment significantly impact perpetration. Prevention strategies must consider gender differences and target both individual and school-level interventions.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Criminology
- Public Health
Background:
- Youth violence is a significant public health concern with complex etiological factors.
- Understanding the interplay of personal and environmental influences is crucial for effective prevention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate individual and environmental predictors of youth violence.
- To examine gender-specific risk factors in a Swiss national sample of adolescents.
Main Methods:
- A nationally representative sample of 7548 students and apprentices (ages 16-20) in Switzerland.
- Youth violence defined by specific aggressive behaviors in the past 12 months.
- Multilevel modeling (individual, classroom, school) used for males due to low female violence prevalence.
Main Results:
- For females, victimization and sensation seeking were key individual-level predictors.
- For males, individual factors included unsafe sex, sensation seeking, victimization, poor parent relations, depression, and single-parent households.
- Classroom (violence/antisocial acts) and school (vocational school) levels also predicted male violence perpetration.
Conclusions:
- Interventions should prioritize classroom-level strategies and explicit school policies on violence.
- Prevention efforts must acknowledge and address gender disparities in youth violence.
- A multi-level approach considering individual, classroom, and school factors is recommended.
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