Correlates of Peer Violence Among 13- to 15-Year-Olds in Gampaha District Schools in Sri Lanka

Monika Priyadarshani Wijeratne,Rohini Seneviratne,Nalika Gunawardena,Catherine Lynch,Truls Ostbye,Ingvild Fossgard Sandøy

doi:10.1177/2158244014550616

Monika Priyadarshani Wijeratne, Rohini Seneviratne + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014550616

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Abstract

Violence among adolescents in schools is a relatively new research area in South Asian countries. Limited knowledge about factors associated with peer violence hinders the design of prevention programs. This study was carried out to assess correlates of peer violence among 13- to 15-year-old adolescents in Gampaha district schools in Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was carried out to identify “violent” and “non-violent” adolescents. Study and control populations were identified based on their participatory roles in violence, and an unmatched case–control (1 case: 1 control) analysis was carried out to assess correlates of peer violence. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model was used, and correlates were determined for both physical and relational (verbal and non-verbal) violence. Correlates of both physical and relational peer violence were male sex, being 13 years of age, mental health difficulties, dating relationships, school absenteeism, witnessing physical fights among neighbors, and crime-dense residence. Factors associated with peer violence operate at several levels: individual, family/peer relationships, community, and societal. Most of these factors are modifiable and can be targeted by prevention programs.

Highlights

Sri Lanka has experienced a three-decade-long civil war, which disintegrated and displaced families in many parts of the island
Most of the abusive behaviors identified among adolescents in Sri Lanka were included in the Sri Lankan Early Teenagers’ Violence Inventory (SLETVI) to capture a wide range of peer violence among 13- to 15-year-old adolescents in schools
The ecological model developed by Bronfenbrenner (1979) was used to describe the multifactorial origin of physical and relational peer violence, and we assessed correlates at four levels: individual, family and peer relationships, community/school, and societal (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Sri Lanka has experienced a three-decade-long civil war, which disintegrated and displaced families in many parts of the island. The country has undergone industrialization, urbanization, and globalization, which have led to social changes such as transition of agricultural economy into industrial economy, population redistribution according to economic opportunities and disintegration of extended families into nuclear families. Some of these transitions have led to adaptation of unhealthy behaviors such as working for long hours, lack of leisure time, harmful alcohol or other substance use and harmful use of modern technology (Gunatilleke, 1978, 1993). Adolescents, who constitute 20% of the 19.9 million Sri Lankan population (Department of Census and Statistics [DCS], 2009), are directly and indirectly affected by the above-mentioned consequences

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