Peer Victimization among High School Children: A Prevalence Study

Abstract

Peer victimization is major social problem affecting children and adolescents in all parts of the world. A study was conducted in University of Agricultural Sciences Dharwad to know the prevalence and levels of peer victimization among high school children selected from Dharwad taluk, Dharwad district of Karnataka. Self structured questionnaire and multidimensional peer victimization scales were used to elicit required information from children. Percentages and t-test were used to analyze the data. The results related to prevalence showed that, out of total sample (1150) 265 children were found to be victimized. Among them, about 53.21 per cent of children were from rural area and 46.79 per cent of children were from urban area. In rural area, about 28.30 per cent of children were studying in government schools and 24.91 per cent of children studying in private schools were experienced victimization. In case of urban area, victimization was found to be more (25.28 %) among children studying in government schools followed by children studying in private schools (21.51 %). Among them most of boys studying in 8th class were found to be more victimized followed by 9th and 10th class children in both rural and urban area. Majority of rural (68.08 %) and urban (58.87 %) children were found in moderate level of victimization followed by low level and high level of victimization. So, there is need for school based educational programs and public awareness campaigns, including print, electronic and social media with emphasis to rural and urban area and strict enforcement of policies to make the school environment safe is necessary.