My worst school experience: A retrospective characterization of students' victimization

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the worst school events experienced by Brazilian university students, pointing to its frequency, duration, main perpetrators and victims' characteristics (age, grade and type of school). To this end, 691 university students of both genders (mean 21.1 years) responded to a version of the retrospective instrument Student Alienation and Trauma Survey - R, translated and adapted to Brazil. The most frequent worst school experience modality described were relational (35.7%), and verbal violence (27.4%). Girls suffered verbal, relational and sexual violence more often, and boys suffered physical violence and unfair discipline. Perpetrators were mostly another male student. The mean age of the worst experience occurrence was 12.3 years, and 10.5% of participants indicated that the worst school experience had lasted "years". These data contribute to characterization of school violence in Brazil, stressing urgent need of interventions.