Exposure to Peer Violence Among Romanian High School Students And Its Relationship With Internet Use And Other Health Risk Behaviors

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Peer violence can have important physical and psychological consequences. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed exposure to peer violence among Romanian high school students and investigated its relationship with internet use and other health risk behaviors. METHODS: A cross sectional study using anonymous questionnaires was performed in the school year 2015/2016 among 220 high school students from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. RESULTS: Around 9% of the girls, respectively 20% of the boys were involved in a physical fight with a peer in the last year. More than half of both girls and boys declared verbal aggression by peers at least once in the last year, while around one quarter of the participants declared being aggressed in the last year through messages sent by peers by phone or social media platforms. The results of the bivariate correlation analyses show that involvement in physical fights was positively associated with being boy, experimentation with smoking, electronic cigarettes use and getting drunk during lifetime. High school students who declared verbal aggression in the last year had the tendency to spend more time on internet for several purposes, to experiment smoking and alcohol intoxication. Exposure to peer violence through messages sent by phone or social media platforms was more frequents among those spending more time on internet, having social media accounts and getting drunk during lifetime. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows the need for future investigations in this field as well as the necessity to develop appropriate programs for prevention and decreasing of peer violence among high school students.