Experiences of violence among adolescents: gender patterns in types, perpetrators and associated psychological distress

Abstract

Experiences of several types of violence should be highlighted as factors associated with mental health problems in adolescents. The victim-perpetrator relationships of violence are gendered and likely influence the psychological distress association. Gendered hierarchies and norms likely influence the extent to which adolescents experience violence and how they respond to it in terms of psychological distress.

The effects of non-physical peer sexual harassment on high school students’ psychological well-being in Norway: consistent and stable findings across studies

“…Sexual harassment may also take the form of physical coercion such as being brushed against or held in a sexual way, having private parts touched or being coerced into kissing or other forms of sexual behavior. Peer sexual harassment covering any of the above forms is commonly reported among secondary and high school men and women with prevalence rates ranging from 40 to 85% (American Association of University Women 2001; Bendixen and Kennair 2014;Chiodo et al 2009;Felix and McMahon 2006;Landstedt and Gillander Gådin 2011;Lichty and Campbell 2012;Ormerod et al 2008;Paludi 1997;Skoog et al 2015) and possibly more common in samples of sexual minorities (Mitchell et al 2014). Being subject to physical form of sexual harassment (coercion) is less prevalent, particularly among boys/men (Chiodo et al 2009;Kennair and Bendixen 2012).…”

“…Evidently, being subject to peer sexual harassment in middle-and high school is significantly associated with a number of psychosocial and educational problems ranging from symptoms of anxiety and depression (Dahlqvist et al 2016;Duffy et al 2004;Landstedt and Gillander Gådin 2011;Lichty and Campbell & Mons Bendixen mons.bendixen@ntnu.no 2012; Skoog et al 2015;Slaatten et al 2015), self-harm and suicidal ideation (Chiodo et al 2009), social avoidance (Duffy et al 2004), lower self-esteem and body image (Gruber and Fineran 2008;Ormerod et al 2008), loss of appetite and dieting (Chiodo et al 2009), self-injury (Chiodo et al 2009;Marshall et al 2013), and lower academic outcomes (Lichty and Campbell 2012).…”

“…Some studies report similar effects of being sexually harassed for men and women (Duffy et al 2004;Slaatten et al 2015). Others find that sexual harassment seem to affect women's health more strongly than men's (Chiodo et al 2009;Landstedt and Gillander Gådin 2011), or that the effects are differential: that sexual rumoring may be particularly distressing for women while gay-related slurs appear to be more harmful for men (Gruber and Fineran 2008). A recent review also suggests that peer victimization affects sexual minority groups (non-heterosexual orientation and gender identity) more, reporting that associations with depressive symptoms and lack of school belonging are stronger for sexual minority subjects (Collier et al 2013).…”

The tip of the iceberg. Incidence of disclosed cases of child sexual abuse in Switzerland: results from a nationwide agency survey

“…CSA can be committed by family members, relatives, neighbors, acquaintances, friends, teachers, strangers, or peers. It is considered a major risk factor for a variety of health problems in both childhood and later adult life (Cichetti and Toth 2005;Fergusson et al 2008;Jud 2008a;Landstaedt and Gillander Gådin 2010). …”

Características da violência escolar no Brasil: revisão sistemática de estudos quantitativos

“…Esse resultado também foi observado em estudos realizados em outros países [49][50][51] e assinala para o papel de práticas machistas e de risco na configuração do gênero masculino, e de sua condição de vítima e autor da violência. 52,53 Fatores individuais, de relacionamentos estabelecidos, comunitários e sociais atuam conjuntamente para a expressão da violência em diferentes espaços sociais. 1 Ter vivenciado violência no âmbito familiar associou-se à violência escolar em dois estudos desta revisão, 12,31 assinalando para a estreita relação existente entre violências de várias fontes e naturezas.…”