Workplace violence against adolescent workers in the US.
BACKGROUND
Workplace violence is a significant problem yet most research on this topic has focused on adults. Despite facing numerous employment conditions that raise their risk for workplace violence, adolescent workers have received inadequate attention.


METHODS
Survey data from 1,171 US students ages 14-17 were analyzed using descriptive statistics to investigate the incidence and perpetrators of physical attacks, verbal threats, and sexual harassment.


RESULTS
Nearly one-third of respondents experienced some form of workplace violence: 25% verbally threatened, 10% physically attacked, and 10% sexually harassed. Significant demographic differences were found. The most common perpetrators of physical attacks and verbal threats were customers while sexual harassment most often came from co-workers.


CONCLUSIONS
Many working adolescents, most with only a few years work experience, have already suffered workplace violence. As youth are likely to be more vulnerable to its effects, developing workplace violence prevention strategies that target adolescent workers should be made a priority.
Rauscher
Kimberly J
KJ
University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA. kimberly_rauscher@unc.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000145:classification / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence / Q000145:classification / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017132:Workplace