Violent adolescents and their educational environment: a multilevel analysis.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the respective roles of personal and environmental factors in youth violence in a nationally representative sample of 7548 postmandatory school students and apprentices ages 16-20 years in Switzerland.


METHODS
Youth violence was defined as having committed at least one of the following in the previous 12 months: attacking an adult, snatching something, carrying a weapon, or using a weapon in a fight. Different ecological levels were tested, resulting in a three-level model only in males (individual, classroom, and school) as the low prevalence of female violence did not allow for a multilevel analysis. Dependent variables were attributed to each level. For males, the classroom level (10%) and the school level (24%) accounted for more than one third in interindividual variance.


RESULTS
Factors associated with violence perpetration in females were being a victim of physical violence and sensation seeking at the individual level. In males, practicing unsafe sex, sensation seeking, being a victim of physical violence, having a poor relationship with parents, being depressed, and living in a single-parent household at the individual level; violence and antisocial acts at the classroom level; and being in a vocational school at the school level showed a correlation with violence perpetration.


CONCLUSIONS
Interventions at the classroom level as well as an explicit school policy on violence and other risk behaviors should be considered a priority when dealing with the problem of youth violence. Furthermore, prevention should take into account gender differences.
Thurnherr
Judit
J
Research Group on Adolescent Health, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Berchtold
André
A
Michaud
Pierre-André
PA
Akre
Christina
C
Suris
Joan-Carles
JC
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools / Q000592:standards; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D020954:Single-Parent Family / Q000523:psychology; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult