The expression of intrafamily violence: Adolescent oral histories

Abstract

Objective: to reveal the expressions of intrafamily violence experienced by adolescents. Method: a qualitative study that used oral history as a methodological reference. Eight adolescents enrolled in a public school in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, were interviewed from March to May 2015. The data were systematized according to the thematic analysis and supported by theoretical references on domestic violence and adolescence. Results: adolescents report a childhood and adolescence marked by the lack of attention to their physical and emotional needs, fundamental for growth and development, and the daily experiences of humiliation, slander, injuries from kicks and punches. These findings were organized in the following categories: Negligence and abandonment; Moral and psychological violence; and Physical violence. Conclusion: considering that the oral history of the adolescents reveals a family context permeated by the most varied forms of expressions of violence, the study ratifies the reality of abuse that children and adolescents are exposed to in their homes, which are understood as safe and secure places. It also alerts us to the naturalization of intrafamily violence, socially rooted in the belief of children’s education through punitive and coercive measures, most commonly through corporal punishment and aggression. Strategies that deconstruct this culture of child and adolescent maltreatment are urged.