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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: In Mexico, there is a little information about child and youth poly-victimization.
OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to analyze the prevalence of victimization and poly-victimization in a community sample of Mexican adolescents aged 12-17 years. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS: The Mexican version of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire was applied to 1068 adolescents (504 females and 564 males) at six public schools.
METHODS: Descriptive analyses were conducted to establish the prevalence of six types of victimizations and poly-victimization. Odds ratios were used to estimate differences between the genders and age groups.
RESULTS: Nearly 80% of the adolescents reported at least one experience of victimization during the past year, while 85.5% reported at least one experience of victimization in their lifetime. Conventional crimes (65.6%) and indirect victimization (61%) were the most frequent types of victimization reported. Of the sample, 35.9% were classified as poly-victims in the past year. Girls experienced a broader spectrum of victimization than boys. Specifically, girls experience more caregiver victimization (OR = 1.56, 95% CI=1.21-2.02), sexual victimization (OR = 2.46, 95% CI=1.73-3.50), and electronic victimization (OR = 1.81, 95% CI=1.33-2.47), in their lifetime. Older adolescents experienced more witnessing victimization (OR = 1.48, 95% CI=1.16-1.88) and caregiver victimization (OR = 1.52, 95% CI=1.15-2.00) during the past year.
CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to be carried out in Mexico with an instrument that enables cross-cultural comparisons. Our findings highlight the necessity to increase research in this field to improve both intervention programs and public policies to prevent child victimization.
Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Language: en |