Abstract
This study aimed to explore the characteristics and influencing factors of violence exposure in real life among Chinese college students. A sample of 375 college students was randomly selected to complete three questionnaires. The results indicated that participants had higher scores as victims and witnesses on violence exposure in community than they did in family. Male students had higher scores than females in both family and community violence exposure. Subjects with lower father’s education level scored significantly higher than others in family violence exposure by victimization and community violence exposure by witnessing and victimization. Participants growing up in rural areas had significantly higher scores than others in family violence exposure by victimization and community violence exposure by witnessing. Finally, those subjects with siblings reported higher scores than those from only child families in family violence exposure by witnessing. Multiple regression analysis showed that deviant behaviors of peers, gender, and single-child status were significant influencing factors of respondent violence exposure. More efforts should be taken to effectively cope with existing violence exposure in college students and minimize the potential of future exposure.
Highlights
Violence refers to “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development, or deprivation” and was officially announced as a crucial risk factor for public health (World Health Organization, 1996)
Paired sample t-tests revealed that subjects obtained higher scores on violence exposure both by victimization in community (t = −6.45, df = 374, p = 0.000, 95% confidence interval [CI] [−1.75, −0.93], Cohen’s d = −0.33) and witnessing in community (t = −18.25, df = 374, p = 0.000, 95% CI [−6.96, −18.25], Cohen’s d = -1.1) than they did at home
The comparison results of family violence exposure and community violence exposure on college students with sociodemographic variables are presented in Tables 2, 3, respectively
Summary
Violence refers to “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development, or deprivation” and was officially announced as a crucial risk factor for public health (World Health Organization, 1996). In addition to causing death, violence can cause physical problems, such as injury, disability, depression, drug abuse, and highrisk sexual behavior (World Health Organization, 2015), resulting in heavy burdens on the health, welfare, and justice sectors. Children and adolescents who have been victims of violence are a major societal concern. Studies revealed that children and adolescents suffer higher rates of exposure to violence than adults (Hashima and Finkelhor, 1999; Finkelhor, 2008). About half of high school youth reported being threatened, slapped, hit, or punched in the home, school, or neighborhood, and up to a third
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