Prevalence and predictors of staff victimization of students in Kosovo

Abstract

Student victimization by school staff members has important potential consequences for students’ academic achievement and physical and psychological outcomes. Several studies have shown that such victimization exists in multiple contexts and there is considerable variation in prevalence among contexts. This study examined the prevalence of student victimization in public schools by staff members and its relationships with other school-related factors in the context of Kosovo. The sample was designed to represent all students from Grades 6–9 in 13 of Kosovo's 38 municipalities. The sample consisted of 12,040 students from 100 schools, 49.2% of whom were female. They were equally divided between Grades 6 to 9. Overall, more than a quarter of the students reported that a staff member victimized them in the last month. The least prevalent victimization type was sexual—touched or tried to touch you in a sexual manner (2.3%). The most prevalent physical behavior was slapping (15.8%); 12.7% reported being offended or humiliated by a staff member and 8.3% indicated that a staff member cursed them. Boys were victimized significantly more than girls for all types of victimization. The strongest predictors of staff victimization of students were students’ involvement in peer-to-peer victimization and risky behaviors, which were correlated with school climate. Future research should examine each type of staff victimization of students (emotional, physical, sexual) separately and test comprehensive models that include multiple predictors, including contextual and school-level variables and staff characteristics.