Do Neighbors Have More Peaceful Students? Youth Violence Profiles among Adolescents in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jun 29;19(13):7964. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19137964.

Abstract

(1) Background: Co-occurrence or overlaps of different forms or involvement in peer violence among adolescents have been broadly studied. The study aimed to assess adolescents' violence profiles related to bullying, cyberbullying, and fighting in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The study was to investigate the pattern of bullying, cyberbullying, and fighting involvement among adolescents in these four countries to test the stability of previously identified profiles. (2) Methods: We analyzed the data from the 2017/2018 international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey, which used proportionate sampling among adolescents aged 11-15 years old (n = 24,501). A Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was performed to determine violence profiles in each country. (3) Results: In Slovakia, three distinct latent classes were identified, primarily cyber victims, school bullies, and those involved in multiple forms, and in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland bully victims was the fourth class. (4) Conclusions: The findings suggest that peer violence prevention programs in adolescents should consider violence profiles and multiple involvements.

Keywords: bullying; cyberbullying; latent class analysis; perpetration; victimization.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Bullying*
  • Child
  • Crime Victims*
  • Czech Republic / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Hungary / epidemiology
  • Poland / epidemiology
  • Slovakia / epidemiology
  • Students
  • Violence / prevention & control

Grants and funding

Z.H. was supported by the ÚNKP-21-4 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund. The data collection for the HBSC data was funded at the national level in each country.