An Exploratory Study of Secondary School Student Victimization in Kosovo and Its Correlates

Most of the existing literature and evidence on school violence and victimization comes from high-income countries, and there is a lack of evidence on developing countries. This study examines the prevalence of student victimization and its association with individual, family, and school-related correlates, focusing on the representative sample from 13 municipalities of Kosovo among 12,040 students. Overall, 77% of the students reported being victimized by at least one type of harmful act of violence in the last month; the most prevalent acts were cursing or verbal victimization (61%), followed by pushing and grabbing (45%) while being threatened with a weapon was relatively rare (2.2%). Of all factors, students' perception of risky peers had the most significant impact on school victimization. The authors recommend a multidisciplinary approach is required to respond to the complexity of school victimization in Kosovo.