Adolescents exposed to physical violence in the community: a survey in Brazilian public schools.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the proportion of adolescents who have been exposed to physical violence in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil.


METHODS
Fifty-two Porto Alegre public schools that offer basic primary education (grades 1 to 8) were selected through a random sampling process stratified according to school size. In May-November 2000 a screening survey that identifies exposure to violence--experienced personally, witnessed, or knowing victims of violent acts--was administered to all students who were attending a randomly selected 8th grade class in each of the 52 schools.


RESULTS
The total number of adolescents included in the analysis was 1,193, representing 10.3% of the students enrolled in 8th grade classes in the city's public school system. On average, each adolescent had been exposed to 19.8 incidents of violence (standard deviation (SD) = 8.5): 2.0 incidents personally experienced (SD = 2.1), 8.5 incidents witnessed (SD = 4.0), and 9.3 knowing a victim of an incident of violence (SD = 4.1). In our sample, the variables of being male (P < 0.0001), being in an older age group (P < 0.001), and not living with both parents (P < 0.001) were independently associated with exposure to more incidents of violence.


CONCLUSIONS
We found a high prevalence of incidents of violence among the adolescents in our sample in Porto Alegre. Considering the particular burden inflicted by violent acts on adolescents, health professionals must develop effective approaches to activity identifying, intervening in, and preventing community violence.
Zavaschi
Maria Lucrécia
ML
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. zavaschi@terra.com.br
Benetti
Silvia
S
Polanczyk
Guilherme Vanoni
GV
Solés
Nathália
N
Sanchotene
Maria Luiza
ML
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D001938:Brazil; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data