Children's peer violence perpetration and victimization: Prevalence and associated factors among school children in Afghanistan

BackgroundChild peer violence is a global problem and seriously impacts children’s physical and psychological health, and their education outcomes. There are few research studies on children’s peer violence available in South Asian countries, particularly in Afghanistan. This paper describes the prevalence of children’s peer violence perpetration and victimization and associated factors among school children in Afghanistan.MethodsA total of 770 children were recruited into a baseline study conducted as part of an intervention evaluation in 11 schools (seven girls’ and four boys’ schools). All children were interviewed with a questionnaire developed for the study. The main outcome is a three-level peer violence variable consisting of (a) no violence, (b) victimization only, or (c) perpetration (with or without victimization). Peer violence victimization was measured through the Multidimensional Peer-Victimization Scale, and peer violence perpetration was measured through an adjusted version of the same scale with wording changed to measure perpetration.Results49.7% of boys and 43.3% of girls reported having experienced more than one instance of violence victimization in the past month, and 31.7% of boys and 17.6% of girls disclosed perpetration of more than one instance of violence in the past month, with considerable overlap found between experience of victimization and perpetration, particularly among boys. Multinomial models of factors associated with peer violence show that for boys, food insecurity was associated with perpetration of peer violence but not with victimization, and experiencing corporal punishment at school in the last month was significantly associated with both peer victimization and perpetration. For girls, food insecurity, more depressive symptoms and experiencing any beating at home were associated with both violence victimization and perpetration. Having a disability was associated with victimization only, and having witnessed their father fighting and experiencing any kind of corporal punishment were associated with peer violence perpetration only.DiscussionPeer violence in Afghanistan is linked to food insecurity, exposure of children to witnessing family violence, and children’s experience of physical violence at home and corporal punishment at school. School-based settings provide an important platform for interventions to reduce and prevent peer violence; however, such interventions may benefit from broader violence-prevention initiatives conducted at the community level.

背景 儿童同伴暴力是一项全球性公共卫生问题，严重损害儿童的身心健康与学业发展成果。南亚地区，尤其是阿富汗，针对儿童同伴暴力的专项研究较为匮乏。本文旨在阐明阿富汗学龄儿童同伴暴力施害与受害的流行率及其相关影响因素。方法 本研究作为11所学校（含7所女子学校、4所男子学校）干预评估项目的基线研究，共招募770名儿童参与。所有受试儿童均采用为本研究开发的问卷开展访谈。本研究的主要结局指标为三级同伴暴力变量，涵盖（a）无暴力行为、（b）仅遭受暴力受害、（c）实施暴力施害（可伴随或不伴随受害行为）。同伴暴力受害情况通过多维同伴受害量表（Multidimensional Peer-Victimization Scale）进行量化评估；同伴暴力施害情况则通过对该量表进行措辞调整后的适配版本进行测量。结果 过去一个月内，49.7%的男孩与43.3%的女孩报告曾经历至少一次同伴暴力受害；31.7%的男孩与17.6%的女孩承认曾实施至少一次同伴暴力施害行为。研究发现，暴力受害与施害行为存在显著重叠，该现象在男孩群体中尤为突出。针对同伴暴力相关影响因素的多项分类模型分析结果显示：对于男孩群体，粮食不安全与同伴暴力施害行为显著相关，但与受害风险无显著关联；近一个月内在学校遭受体罚，则与同伴暴力受害及施害风险均存在显著正相关。对于女孩群体，粮食不安全、更严重的抑郁症状以及在家中遭受任何形式的殴打，均与同伴暴力受害及施害风险显著相关；患有残疾仅与同伴暴力受害风险相关；目睹父亲斗殴以及遭受任何形式的体罚，则仅与同伴暴力施害风险相关。讨论 阿富汗儿童同伴暴力现象与粮食不安全、儿童目睹家庭暴力、在家中遭受躯体暴力以及在学校遭受体罚均存在显著关联。校园环境为减少与预防同伴暴力提供了重要的干预平台；不过，此类干预若结合社区层面开展的广义暴力预防综合举措，或将获得更理想的实施效益。