EXPERIENCE OF VIOLENCE AMONG SCHOOLCHILDREN IN LEBANON

1. EXPERIENCE OF VIOLENCEAMONG SCHOOLCHILDREN IN LEBANON Salim M. Adib, MD, DrPHDepartment of Public HealthFaculty of MedicineSaint-Joseph University

2. RATIONALE • Boys and girls in experience all types of violence in homes, schools, street, at levels not yet measured in Lebanon • Physical punishment as well as all forms of verbal and emotional violence may still be common. • World Vision has commissioned this first nation-wide survey to assess the magnitude of violence experienced by children in schools. SM Adib

3. OBJECTIVES • To measure the experience of violence experienced by children in schools • To assess differences by gender, age, socio-economic status, educational background, school location and school system. SM Adib

4. METHODS • A national sample survey targeted schoolchildren in the complementary and secondary school cycles • Ages ranging between 10 and 18 years old: estimated 860,000 children, of whom >95% ever scolarized • Inflated sample of 1200 children planned to compensate for the non-random convenience sampling approach. SM Adib

5. METHODS • Participants to be recruited through a network of affiliated NGOs, from all six mohafazats in quotas proportionate to their representation in the student population • Within each mohafazat, numbers were obtained also proportionately in age-groups but in parity for sexes SM Adib

6. RESULTS (N= 1177) • 98% of targeted sample obtained • Mean age 14-15 years • Public schools: 54% • Middle to low SE status: 67% • Siblings: mean 2-3 children

8. OVERALL SELF-REPORTED EXPERIENCE WITH PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL (N= 1177)

9. MULTIVARIATE DETERMINANTS OF SELF-REPORTED EXPERIENCE WITH PHYSICAL VIOLENCE • Boys > Girls • Public > Private • South Lebanon> Bekaa > autres regions • More siblings • Lower parental education levels SM Adib

10. OVERALL SELF-REPORTED EXPERIENCE WITH PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL (N= 1177) Why are children from bigger families with lower educational background more likely to report higher physical violence? • Acting-out to attract attention? • Vulnerable in the eyes of peers and teachers? SM Adib

11. OVERALL SELF-REPORTEDEXPERIENCE WITH PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL (N= 1177) • Older children report less physical abuse  recency/recall bias • There is a tendency to minimize the experience: 54% initially declared never having been hurt or suffered, although only 23% never experienced specific aspects of abuse

12. OVERALL SELF-REPORTEDEXPERIENCE WITH PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL (N= 1177) • May be physical violence at school is frequent but not serious or traumatic enough to be remembered SM Adib

14. OVERALL SELF-REPORTED EXPERIENCE WITH VERBAL/EMOTIONAL VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL (N= 1177)

15. SELF-REPORTED EXPERIENCE WITH VERBAL/EMOTIONAL VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL • Verbal/emotional violence more frequent and intense than physical abuse, more often caused by peers than teachers. • No clear regional or social differences: pervasive experience across all strata and regions • The age, sex and public school effects persist SM Adib

16. SELF-REPORTED EXPERIENCE WITH VERBAL/EMOTIONAL VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL • Findings confirm that we are more a verbally abusive than a physically abusive culture • Also arguable: majority knows that hitting is forbidden as school, thinks that it is not a legitimate punishment tool, and knows it can complain to the administrator: deterrence effect? SM Adib

17. CONCLUSIONS • Physical violence, especially with younger socially vulnerable children in public schools has been the experience of >3/4 of children • Focus attention on public school teachers in regions with higher rates to decrease levels of physical abuse SM Adib

18. CONCLUSIONS • Pervasive emotional abuse among peers is a societal problem across regions and social strata • Efforts to decrease our national tolerance to verbal abuse and to modify norms of public discourse as early as childhood SM Adib

19. THANKS