The incidence of Arab adolescents’ exposure to violence in their families of origin and its sociodemographic correlates

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the incidence and sociodemographic correlates of witnessing and experiencing different patterns of abuse and violence in the family of origin among Arab adolescents from Israel. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a sample of 1,640 Arab secondary school students in Israel. Results: About 17% of the participants had witnessed their fathers threatening to hit or throw something at their mothers, and 18% had witnessed their fathers attacking, grabbing, or shoving their mothers at least once during the 12 months preceding the survey. Regarding exposure to mother-to-father violence, the rates for the same acts were 4% and 3%, respectively. In addition, 39%, 40%, and 42% of the participants indicated that their fathers, mothers, and siblings, respectively, had yelled at them and/or done something to insult them at least once during the same period. Furthermore, 17%, 15%, and 20% of the participants revealed that their fathers, mothers, and siblings, respectively, had attacked them continuously for several minutes with a stick, club, or other harmful object at least once during the 12 months preceding the survey. Conclusions: The results revealed evidence of psychological and physical violence against Arab adolescents of different ages, gender, places of residence, or religions. In addition, evidence was found of violence between parents of different ages, levels of education, levels of income, religious affiliation, occupation, and family size. These results emphasize the importance of exploring violence in the Arab family from an integrative, ecological perspective.