Effects of education and age on the experience of youth violence in a very low-resource setting: a fixed-effects analysis in rural Burkina Faso

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the effects of education and age on the experience of youth violence in low-income and middle-income country settings.

Design: Using a standardised questionnaire, our study collected two waves of longitudinal data on sociodemographics, health practices, health outcomes and risk factors. The panel fixed-effects ordinary least squares regression models were used for the analysis.

Settings: The study was conducted in 59 villages and the town of Nouna with a population of about 100 000 individuals, 1 hospital and 13 primary health centres in Burkina Faso.

Participants: We interviewed 1644 adolescents in 2017 and 1291 respondents in 2018 who participated in both rounds.

Outcome and exposure measures: We examined the experience of physical attacks in the past 12 months and bullying in the past 30 days. Our exposures were completed years of age and educational attainment.

Results: A substantial minority of respondents experienced violence in both waves (24.1% bullying and 12.2% physical attack), with males experiencing more violence. Bullying was positively associated with more education (β=0.12; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.22) and non-significantly with older age. Both effects were stronger in males than females, although the gender differences were not significant. Physical attacks fell with increasing age (β=-0.18; 95% CI -0.31 to -0.05) and this association was again stronger in males than females; education and physical attacks were not substantively associated.

Conclusions: Bullying and physical attacks are common for rural adolescent Burkinabe. The age patterns found suggest that, particularly for males, there is a need to target violence prevention at younger ages and bullying prevention at slightly older ones, particularly for those remaining in school. Nevertheless, a fuller understanding of the mechanisms behind our findings is needed to design effective interventions to protect youth in low-income settings from violence.

Keywords: adolescent; health economics; public health; statistics & research methods.