Abstract
Violence against children by peers is a global public health problem. We aimed to assess factors associated with peer violence victimization among primary school children in Uganda. We conducted multilevel multivariable logistic regression analyses of cross-sectional data from 3706 primary students in 42 Ugandan primary schools. Among primary school students, 29% and 34% had ever experienced physical and emotional violence perpetrated by their peers, respectively. Factors strongly associated with both physical and emotional violence were similar and overlapping, and included exposure to interparental violence, having an attitude supportive of violence against children from school staff, not living with biological parents, working for payment, and higher SDQ score. However, we found that younger age, sharing sleeping area with an adult and achieving a higher educational performance score, were specifically associated with physical violence. On the other hand, being female, walking to school, reporting disability and eating one meal on the previous day, were particularly associated with emotional violence. Interventions to reduce peer violence should focus on family contexts, school environments and those with poor socio-economic status may need extra support.
Highlights
Violence against children, including physical, sexual and emotional violence, has devastating effects on health, including injuries, sexually transmitted infections, depression, substance misuse, self-harm and non-communicable diseases (Felitti et al, 1998; Lim et al, 2012; Norman et al, 2012; Norton & Kobusingye, 2013)
More than half (63%) of the children lived with their biological parents
We found that having an attitude supportive of physical violence from school staff, exposure to interparental violence and being a high educational performer, were associated with peer physical violence victimization
Summary
Violence against children, including physical, sexual and emotional violence, has devastating effects on health, including injuries, sexually transmitted infections, depression, substance misuse, self-harm and non-communicable diseases (Felitti et al, 1998; Lim et al, 2012; Norman et al, 2012; Norton & Kobusingye, 2013). Perpetrators of violence against children include school staff, family members and peers. Violence against children by their peers can include both “bullying”, where the power dynamics between a perpetrator and victim are important, and “peer victimization”, which can include any violence between peers (Devries, Child et al, 2014). Mainly from high-income settings, indicate that children who are maltreated (abused or neglected physically, emotionally or sexually), exposed to domestic violence, or from socio-economically disadvantaged households and communities may be more vulnerable to violence from school peers (Cluver, Bowes, & Gardner, 2010; U.S Department of Education, 2002; Shields & Cicchetti, 2001; Wolkes, Woods, Stanford, & Schulz, 2001)
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