Elsevier

Children and Youth Services Review

Volume 82, November 2017, Pages 254-261
Children and Youth Services Review

School violence in two Mediterranean countries: Italy and Albania

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.09.037Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The aim of this study is to describe the risk factors and incidence and prevalence of school victimization.

  • The results show that physical and psychological abuse are the most common forms of victimization.

  • The victims' peers are the most-frequent perpetrators in every category of victimization.

  • Albania presents significantly higher levels of physical victimization than Italy and a higher percentage of adult offenders.

Abstract

School victimization includes every form of violent offense, including physical or psychological brutality, abandonment or exploitation, and sexual abuse experienced by students. Being tied to a specific cultural context, school victimization can present differences in terms of frequency and risk factors in various countries. The aim of this study is to describe this phenomenon, its incidence and prevalence, and the risk factors associated with it (i.e., gender and age) in Italy and Albania; two European nations geographically close but with significant differences in historical, cultural, and legislative traditions. A total of 596 participants - schoolchildren from grades 6–13, of whom 261 were Italian and 335 were Albanian – anonymously filled out the ICAST-CI questionnaire. The results show that school victimization affects both countries. Both in Italy and Albania, physical, and psychological abuse are the most common forms of victimization, while sexual abuse is the least frequent. Furthermore, in terms of demographics, the victims' peers are the most-frequent perpetrators in every category of victimization. However, Albania presents significantly higher levels of physical victimization than Italy and a higher percentage of adult offenders. Gender and age are significant risk factors of school victimization, albeit with some differences concerning the types of abuse in both nations.

Introduction

School victimization is becoming a pressing social problem worldwide (Benbenishty & Astor, 2008). The number of minors involved in some form of victimization is alarming, to the point of it being recognized as a genuine social problem in both the United States and Europe (Hornor, 2010). In fact, it is estimated that every year 246 million minors worldwide experience some form of victimization in the school environment (UNESCO, 2017). Further, as recognized by Pinheiro (2006) in his report for the United Nations Study on Violence against Children, cases of violence in schools are generally hidden, under-reported, and under-recorded. Furthermore, not all forms of abuse have received the same amount of attention. Great interest has been shown, for instance, in the study of domestic violence while less attention has been paid to victimization experienced in the school context.

Research on school victimization has mainly focused on bullying and on new forms of victimization tied to the proliferation of communication technologies, i.e., cyber-bullying (Baldry, Farrington, & Sorrentino, 2016). Bullying is probably the most frequent and widespread sub-type of school violence, however it can be considered only one of the many forms of school violence.

The concept of school victimization that we are adopting in this paper covers a wider phenomenon than bullying, incorporating all acts of aggression and abuse occurring in the school context, without them being necessarily repeated in a certain time span or perpetrated in an asymmetrical power relationship between perpetrator and victim (Henry, 2000). School victimization includes every form of violent offense, including physical or psychological brutality, abandonment or exploitation, and sexual abuse experienced by students. School violence includes not only violence among peers, but also corporal punishment and other forms of violence directed at students by teachers (Lester, Lawrence, & Ward, 2017).

The prevalence of school victimization varies from study to study, due to cultural and socio-contextual factors, but also to the research methodologies and instruments used to measure it. From a recent meta-analysis carried out on 80 studies conducted in different parts of the world, it emerges that 36% of adolescents have suffered bullying, while 15% declare they have been the target of cyber-bullying (Modecki, Minchin, Harbaugh, Guerra, & Runions, 2014). Eslea et al. (2004) made a comparison of 7 nations on the prevalence of school bullying: China, the UK, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal and Spain. The data show that the percentage of students who see themselves as victims ranged from 5.2% in Ireland to 25.6% in Italy. According to a recent review by Chan and Wong (2015), in Chinese societies (i.e. Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau) traditional school bullying victimization rates range from 2 to 66%. This high range can be due to not only to regional differences, but also to the several instruments used and to the different characteristics of the samples involved in the researches included in this review. Perren, Dooley, Shaw, and Cross (2010) compared Switzerland and Australia, finding higher percentages of bullying victims in the former (Switzerland victims: female 11.1%, male 13.8%; Australia victims: female 9.6%, male 9.1%). In more general terms, the research conducted in the USA reveals higher rates of school violence than in other western countries, while Asian nations tend to report levels that are lower than or comparable to those in European countries (Eslea et al., 2004, Modecki et al., 2014, Sittichai, 2014, Zych et al., 2017).

Gender is a significant variable in the study of school violence. Males typically show greater aggressive behavior than females in the school context, and this seems to be confirmed both by studies in western (Baldry, 2003, Nansel et al., 2001, Rigby, 2005) and eastern countries (Chen & Astor, 2009). Females tend to perpetrate fewer acts of physical violence than males (Grunseit, Weatherburn, & Donnelly, 2008), and they tend to victimize other females when they do (Roland & Idsøe, 2001). Conversely, males engage in more frequent acts of physical violence, directed at victims of both genders. Males seem to get more easily involved in episodes of bullying and tend to be more commonly perpetrators and victims of direct forms of bullying, while girls are found to be more involved in forms of indirect bullying (Hong & Espelage, 2012). Shute, Owens, and Slee (2008) find that girls are often sexually victimized by boys, especially with verbal rather than physical forms of aggression. Regarding physical violence, the literature shows that males are more exposed to it than females, and abuse peers of both genders more frequently (Roland & Idsøe, 2001); females are more frequently victimized by same-gender students (Grunseit et al., 2008). With respect to sexually abusive behaviors, males perpetrate this type of school violence most often (Kaltiala-Heino, Fröjd, & Marttunen, 2016). Also, females are at a higher risk of being victims of sexual harassment, although not all the authors agree with this statement. For instance, some studies have found that female students experience sexual victimization at school significantly more frequently than males (Hand and Sanchez, 2000, Timmerman, 2003), whereas other studies found that males and females experience similarly high levels of sexual victimization (Fineran, Bennett, & Sacco, 2003). These apparently contradicting findings could be due to different operational definitions of sexual victimization used by different authors and to cultural differences (Attar-Schwartz, 2009).

Age has a significant role in the school violence phenomenon. In a review of the literature on studies conducted in the West on bullying, Smith, Madsen, and Moody (1999) found that bullying declines as age rises, and more recent studies confirm a peak during early adolescence and then a decrease during high school (Espelage and Swearer, 2003, Nansel et al., 2001, Pepler et al., 2006, Troop-Gordon, 2017). However, while this applies to European and Anglo Saxon countries, the same data do not seem to emerge from studies conducted in other cultural contexts, like Malaysia and Ethiopia (Benbenishty & Astor, 2008). According to Benbenishty and Astor (2008), in cultures where the importance of age and seniority is emphasized, older students may be more inclined to victimize younger ones, and it is likely that in such a cultural context bullying is perceived as a normative act by the authorities, including those at school. From a developmental perspective, some factors like advanced cognitive skills, greater equity in peer structures, and a more sophisticated sense of identity can lead to a greater decrease in the frequency of aggressive behavior in adolescence, along with learning how to avoid potential bullies (Troop-Gordon, 2017).

Gender, social norms, and wider cultural factors have a significant influence on school violence. Discriminatory gender norms supporting the dominance of men over women, and the perpetuation of these norms through violence are found in some form in almost every culture. Similarly, widespread social norms affirming the authority of teachers over children legitimize the use of violence to maintain discipline. Children and adolescents who do not to conform to these norms are often subjected to violence at school. Schools themselves can encourage children to be violent by enacting discriminatory practices, or through curricula and textbooks supporting the use of violence (Parkes, 2015, UNESCO, 2017).

Power imbalances and gender discrimination in schools can promote attitudes and practices that repress children, forcing them to grow tolerant to forms of violence such as corporal punishment. Schools and the education system are also influenced by wider social and structural factors and may reflect and reproduce environments that do not protect children and adolescents from violence. For example, physical and sexual violence can be more prevalent in schools in contexts where it is also more prevalent in wider society (Imbusch et al., 2011, UNESCO, 2017).

In view of the importance of cultural factors, comparative studies of school violence in different countries are needed in order to achieve a better understanding of how the wider cultural framework affects the phenomenon.

Italy and Albania are two European countries that are geographically close and have shared historical backgrounds. The Italian peninsula and the Albanian territories were part of the Roman Empire. During the Second World War Albania was occupied and subjected to the Italian fascist regime, and later liberated by the anti-Nazi forces. Furthermore, the economic and political crises at the end of the last century caused an endless flow of Albanian refugees towards the Italian coast. Today, Italy is still a favored destination for men and women from Albania. According to data supplied by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Albanians are the second largest ethnic community with 498,419 members, of whom 27.7% are minors. According to a study by ISTAT (2016), over a quarter of the students of Albanian descent present in the Italian school system had prior contact (for varying lengths of time) with the school context in their country of origin.

In spite of the geographical proximity and shared past, Italy and Albania are quite different in cultural norms and values (Farina & Belacchi, 2014). Albania was a patriarchal society characterized by high levels of violence, and has only recently begun to face the issue of childhood abuse and mistreatment, since the collapse of the Soviet Union (Sicher et al., 2000). In the Albanian cultural context, physical and psychological violence are considered acceptable forms of discipline, both at school and at home, and Albanian children themselves have internalized the idea that such practices are necessary in bringing up children (Qirjako, Burazeri, & Amursi, 2014). A UNICEF study (Tamo & Karaj, 2006) underlined that Albanian parents feel physical violence can have positive effects on the growth of children, but that physical violence is more harmful than the psychological kind. Many Albanian teachers also believe that aggressive behavior like bullying is connected to the child's normal development (Kashahu, 2014). A recent study on beliefs on corporal punishment of children conducted by interviewing parents and teachers (Tamo & Karaj, 2006) found that 76% of parents and 57% of the teachers think that it is acceptable to slap children. However in 2010, Albania officially banned all forms of corporal punishment on minors (Qirjako et al., 2014).

Compared to Albania, the Italian state has a longer legislative, pedagogical and social tradition for the protection of children. Italian education, both at home and at school, was marked by the use of violence as a way of correcting children for much of last century. However, in the last few decades this approach has been progressively abandoned and today the use of force as a means of education tends to be condemned by Italian public opinion and disallowed by the authorities (Malizia, 2016).

However, a profound link seems to survive in the Italian context between masculinity and violence, which can also affect the school situation. An interesting study by Gini and Pozzoli (2006) found, in a sample of Italian primary school pupils, that irrespective of sex, masculine traits predicted active bullying behavior. As previously stated, the phenomenon of school violence involves Italy too: actually some studies portray an even worse situation than in other European and Western countries (Menesini et al., 2003, Smith, 2004).

However, data concerning school violence and bullying in the two countries, Italy and Albania, are quite sparse, outlining important differences: a study conducted in Italy by Terres des Hommes and the Italian Committee of Services Against Child Abuse (CISMAI) (Autorità Garante per l'Infanzia e l'Adolescenza [Authority for Children and Adolescents], CISMAI, & Terre des Hommes, 2015) found that 1% of children are victims of maltreatment and have been taken into care for this reason. Among these, 76.5% reported being victims of sexual abuse, 71.0% reported being physically abused and 53.1% reported suffering psychological maltreatment. Obviously these data refer only to children and adolescents that have been officially identified as victims of abuse, but many cases of abuse remain hidden or are not-reported to authorities. A study by ISTAT (2015), carried out on a sample of students aged between 11 and 17 years, revealed that 19.8% of Italian adolescents had been victims of violence perpetrated by peers in the year before the survey, and 9.8% report that these episodes were repeated every week. The study revealed that younger students (11–13 years) had been bullied more than older students (14–17 years) (22.5% vs 17.9%), and females had been victimized more than males, regarding both acts of traditional bullying (20.9% vs 18.8%), and cyber-bullying (7.1% vs 4.6%).

According to findings from the Balkan Epidemiological Study on Child Abuse and Neglect (Cenko, Hazizaj, Çoku, & Haxhiymeri, 2013) Albanian children (11 to 16 years old) report a high incidence and prevalence of child mistreatment and abuse. Psychological abuse is the most frequent form of victimization experienced by children, with a prevalence of 62%, and an incidence in the last year of 69%. The next most common form of maltreatment, physical victimization, was reported less frequently, with a prevalence and incidence equal to 60% and 48% respectively. Sexual victimization was the form of maltreatment that was reported least frequently by children: 11% reported having suffered sexual violence during their lifetime, with a 9% incidence in the last year. With respect to bullying in particular the National Survey on the Phenomenon of Bullying and Extremism in the Education System of Albania (Dragoti & Ismaili, 2017), 19.4% of the students declare that they have been involved in bullying: 9.7% as victims, 5.2% as the bullies of others, and 4.3% as both victim and bully. The perpetrators of bullying are 68% male and 32% female, while among the victims 52% are male and 48% female. The data therefore show a greater involvement of boys in bullying, both as victims and as aggressors. According to the Albanian national survey, the highest incidence of bullying is in 11th grade, followed by 5th grade. As far as school violence in general is concerned, in 2013 the study carried out by Save The Children, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation of Disputes Foundation showed that 42% of the students questioned expressed a sense of insecurity in their school context, and 28% had been involved in serious conflict in schools.

The aim of this study is to describe and compare the phenomenon of school victimization in two European countries, Italy and Albania, two countries that are geographically very close yet culturally quite distant. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have been published analyzing school victimization in both the countries. In particular, we aim to study the prevalence and incidence of in-school physical, psychological and sexual victimization in the two countries and identify possible differences. Further, we aim to describe the school victimization phenomenon by identifying the most frequent types of abusive behavior and the most frequent perpetrators. Lastly, we aim to study and compare the role of gender and age in the two countries as possible risk factors linked to a higher likelihood of being victimized. Due to the cultural differences described above, we expect to find significant differences, with Albanian students being more frequently victimized. Regarding possible risk factors, we expect to find a higher incidence of physical victimization among males and a higher incidence of sexual victimization among females in both countries. Regarding age, we expect to find a higher incidence of each type of victimization among students from lower grades.

Section snippets

Participants

The sample was made up of 596 schoolchildren from grades 6–13 (261 Italians and 335 Albanians). In the Italian sample (mean age = 13.25; SD = 2.19), 36.4% were males, while in the Albanian sample, 46.8% were males (mean age = 14.08 years, SD = 2.35). Participants were recruited from schools in two medium-size cities in western Italy and northern Albania. Among Italians, 60.8% of the recruited sample was composed of middle school students, while the 44.9% of the Albanian sample was made up of middle

Results

Table 1 shows prevalence and incidence (in the last year) of the three different kinds of victimization that were investigated in the study. Both in Italy and Albania, psychological victimization was reported by students more frequently than other kinds of abuse. The second most frequent type of abuse reported was physical mistreatment. The least frequently experienced type of abuse was sexual victimization, which had an incidence of 23% in Italy and 27.5% in Albania. No significant differences

Discussion

The main aim of our study is to compare two European countries, Italy and Albania, in relation to the prevalence and incidence of three forms of school victimization (i.e. psychological, physical and sexual) in middle school and high school. We found that school victimization involves both Italian and Albanian students, and in both countries psychological abuse is confirmed as the most widespread form violence at school, while sexual victimization is the least common in both the countries, both

Conclusions

This study aimed at comparing the phenomenon of school victimization in Italy and Albania, two European countries that are geographically close, but have different historical, cultural, and legislative traditions and norms, even with respect to educational policies and childhood-protection laws and programs (Qirjako et al., 2014).

Overall, the findings of this study seem to depict the Albanian scholastic context as more violent, especially in regard to physical victimization. Although in recent

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