The Demonstration, Encounter and Associations of Violent behaviours in Adolescents attending Educational institutions in a city of Southern India

Abstract

Introduction:Violence is a major and growing public health problem across the world. It affects the general well-being, physical and mental health and social functioning of people. Violence by young people is one of the most visible forms of violence in the society and is a leading cause of death worldwide for people aged 15–44 years. This study was devised to estimate the prevalence of violent behaviours and the identify the factors associated with these behaviours in the adolescent students of Vijayawada.Material and Methods:A Cross sectional observational study was conducted from March 2015 to November 2017 on 621 adolescent students attending schools and colleges in Vijayawada. Institutions were selected through stratified random sampling. After obtaining permission from the Institutional Ethics Committee of Siddhartha Medical College, Vijayawada and the respective heads of the Institutions, a predesigned, pretested, structured questionnaire customised and adapted from the Youth Risk Behaviour Survey was used to collect data through individual interview by a single unbiased interviewer. Data obtained was analysed using SPSS v15.Results:15.8% (12.4% males, 3.4% females) carried a weapon with intention to injure someone over the last 12 months. 26.4% of the participants had carried a weapon with an intention to injure someone on school property over the last 12 months. 31.1% were involved in a physical fight while 23% had involved in a physical fight on school property. 17.6% participants had been threatened or injured with a weapon.17.4% adolescents felt unsafe at school or on the way to and from school. 12.2% had been bullied on school property, 10.3% had been electronically bullied. 83.8% had reported being exposed to verbal abuse on different forms of media and 86.5% had viewed physical fights, injuries or killings on various media.12.6% had sexual intercourse at-least once in their lifetime. 16.7% had been subjected to sexual violence while 7.6% had subjected someone to sexual violence.Conclusion:Adolescents have several types of violent behaviours, that are repetitive. Hence it is the need of the hour to establish systems for monitoring and surveillance of these traits.