Factors associated with interpersonal violence among children from public schools in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil

Abstract

The school has witnessed the growth of manifestations of interpersonal violence among children, and in this perspective, this paper examines the prevalence of interpersonal violence in the relationship between students and the associated factors. This is a cross-sectional study developed with 874 public school students aged 10 and 11 years conducted in 2013. A questionnaire implemented the collection of data that were submitted to bivariate analysis with statistical significance calculation between associations. The results show that the child-perpetrator (83.2%) is associated with the male gender (PR=1.08), as well as being beaten at home (PR=1.13) and having a family that encourages retaliation (PR=1.17). The child-victim (89.5%) is associated with the family that encourages retaliation (PR=1.05), participation in conflicts (93.6%) and age. The 10-year-old child is up to 3.0% more likely to participate in conflicts. The “family that encourages retaliation” is positively associated with the situations of assault, victim condition and participation in conflicts, which entails the reframing of these parental practices.