violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

4Caribbean countries, pregnancy resulting fromsexual assault and coercion often forces girls toquit school and miss out on opportunities foreducation and compromises their future.Factors contributingto violenceRisk factorsRisk factors make it more likely that a childwill be a victim or perpetrator of violence inschools, while protective factors make it lesslikely. Both individual and external characteristics(including beyond the school), are relevantto increasing or decreasing the likelihood that achild will be involved in school violence or seriouslyharmed by it when it occurs. 124,125,126Research on risk factors for violence againstchildren specific to schools is lacking for thefull range of international contexts, and tendsto focus on peer violence. In general, researchfrom mainly industrialised countries suggeststhat influences tend to change with developmentalstage: for example, the influence offamily is stronger for young children, whilethe influence of peers is stronger for adolescents.127 Consistently emerging from researchas significant risk factors specific to schoolsare poor academic performance, high absenteeism,leaving school early, and unstructuredfree time. 128,129 In addition, many of the factorsidentified in research about other aspects of lifeare also likely to be relevant to schools – forexample, pro-violence attitudes, risk-taking,weak social ties, affiliation with anti-socialpeers, poor parent–child relationships, drugabuse, harsh, lax or inconsistent discipline, orpoor parental monitoring.A study in the USA interviewed 1,467 childrenfrom 12 to 17 years old about experiences of victimisationover time. The study suggested thatsome children may be ‘poly-victims’ (victimsof different types of violence), who reported,for example, corporal punishment by parents,sexual abuse by a relative, physical assault bya peer, and bullying by peers in school. Persistenceof poly-victimisation was associated withthe child scoring high on anger and aggressionscales, family problems, and having experiencedrecent life adversities. Having morefriends was associated with decreased levels ofviolence. 130Violence in schools tends to be less about isolatedincidents and more about patterns of violence.Without proper systems in place, thesepatterns become normalised and can escalate.No single factor or combination of factorsprotects children from violence. Risk factorsdo not operate in isolation, and their impactcan be mediated by protective factors. Theconcept of resilience involves a number of protectivefactors, and has emerged in the literatureas important in preventing violence and anumber of other risk behaviours.Resilience and otherprotective factorsA child’s resilience can be defined as the child’scapacity “to cope successfully with everydaychallenges including life transitions, times ofcumulative stress and significant adversity orrisk. Typically, resilient children are recog-131Violence against children in schools and educational settings