Speaker
Description
Authors: Matea Belošević (Senior Research and Teaching Assistant), Katarina Serdar Čerpnjak, Martina Ferić (Full professor)
Background: Although peer violence varies from country to country due to cultural, social and other factors, it is present in all EU Member States and significantly affects youth development. One of the factors that can influence the prevalence of peer violence is how students who witness the peer violence respond to it. This poster presents the study results showing that students’ responses to peer violence vary according to their perceptions of risk and protective factors in the school environment.
Methods: The study included a sample of 2,188 students (48.1% female) from 5th to 8th grade of elementary school and 1st to 4th grade of the cities of Samobor and Jastrebarsko, Croatia. The study was conducted in January 2023 as part of the project "Frontline Politeia" (EU program JUST, 2022-2023). The modified version of the CTC youth survey was used. The chi-square test was used to examine how perceptions of school protective factors (opportunities and recognition for prosocial involvement at school) and risk factors (academic failure and low commitment to school) are related to students' response to peer violence.
Results: The results show that elementary and high school students who perceive more opportunities and more recognition for prosocial engagement at school are more likely to try to take action against peer violence. Among elementary school students, those who had not experienced academic failure were more likely to actively respond to violence. Academic failure, however, had no significant effect on the responses of high school students. Commitment to school was not significantly related to students' responses in either group.
Discussion: These findings deepen the knowledge of how school-related factors influence students' behavior in situations of peer violence. They can therefore support the development of evidence-based prevention interventions in schools to prevent peer violence and encourage more active student engagement in tackling peer violence in schools.
| Conflict of interest | There is no conflict of interest |
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