Violence in the Swedish school environment: extent of the problem and its manifestations

The current importance of school violence due to its recent increase, and also its association with school-specific psychosocial and physical environmental problems were considered as part of a recent survey of Swedish public-sector schools. The responses of the principals of a representative sample of schools (68.4% response rate) revealed that, for the school year 1995-1996, violence was a problem regarded as 'moderate' or 'large' in 15% of schools, 'small' in 62%, and as 'non-significant' in 20%. There has been a non-uniform trend in perceptions of violence across types of schools and municipalities since 1990. Schools where violence has been a problem for some time were more likely to express dissatisfaction with the psychosocial and physical environment of the school, and to emphasize individual and adult-supervision factors as injury determinants. Prevention of intentional injuries requires a variety of interventions, adapted according to factors associated with the problem at local level.