International (full text)

Definitions, prevalence and sources of violence in our countries

Definition

Defining what violence is, is an important precondition when discussing prevalence, sources and implications for intervention and prevention initiatives. This is especially important for international projects and discussions, as culture and history, language and the educational system have an impact on what is perceived as violence.

"Violence" is often mixed with other terms describing similar phenomena, like "bullying" or "aggression". While for instance some definitions focus on physical violence, some others also include verbal and mental forms. There is even no agreement between different disciplines executing studies on violence (Schäfer & Korn, 2000).

Two internationally common definitions of violence are the ones from Olweus and the World Health Organisation (WHO):

Olweus (1999, p. 12): Violence is "aggressive behaviour where the actor or perpetrator uses his or her own body or an object (including a weapon) to inflict (relatively serious) injury or discomfort upon another individual".

WHO (1999, p.2): "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development, or deprivation."

When talking about violence in school, the term "bullying" or its equivalent in other languages is usually used (Finnish: "koulukiusaaminen", Danish: "mobbe", German: "Mobbing", Portuguese: "maltrato entre iguais").

A common definition of bullying is given by Olweus (1993, p. 9):

"A student is being bullied or victimised when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students."

Even this very broad and general definition does not include the whole range of violent acts (e.g. it does not mention violent or aggressive acts from teachers against pupils). Nevertheless, in the VISIONARY project we agree with this definition by Olweus as it is broad enough to unite the different perspectives of our countries and is a good starting point for discussions about violence in school, bullying and its prevention.

Prevalence

As pointed out in the definition section, there are striking differences in the way violence is defined. In some studies "violence" is not defined at all. In addition, different instruments and methods have been used for collecting data. All these differences allow only limited comparisons of national data.

All similarities and differences we refer to in this section should therefore be regarded as tendencies, and should be interpreted with caution.

In Denmark, Finland, Germany, Portugal and the UK, the following common tendencies have been detected (for details compare the national sections):

• Although violence, particularly bullying, is perceived as a "normal" part of school life, serious criminally relevant crimes occur very rarely.
• The typical form of violence in schools is verbal violence.
• Most studies indicate a rise in violence during the mid 1980s or early 1990s.
• The rise of school violence is lower than that of juvenile violence in general.
• In all our countries juvenile violence is becoming more visible in the media.

Sources

In all our countries numerous studies reveal that the development of both violent behaviour and behaviour that puts pupils at risk of becoming victimised do not relate to a single source, but numerous sources that interact in a complex way.

The following sources have been associated with the development of violent behaviour (for details compare the national sections):

• parental violence
• family is severely underprivileged (parents are out of work or draw local welfare support)
• inconsistency in upbringing
• low educational level
• high need for stimulation
• low inhibition threshold
• violent peer-groups and social-pressure
• poor social integration of immigrants
• influence of the media.

The following sources have been associated with the potential to become a victim:

• restrictive education
• isolated and not popular in the class
• more fearful, depressive and less self-confident than other pupils
• more defensive behaviour
• less friends than other pupils.

Literature and links

Olweus, D., (1999), Sweden. In P.K. Smith et al. (eds),The Nature of School Bullying: A Cross-National perspective. London: Routledge.

Olweus, D., (1993), Bullying at school. What we know and what we can do. Oxford: Blackwell.

Pfeiffer, C., (1998), Trends in Juvenile Violence in European Countries. Download: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/fs000202.pdf

Schäfer, M. & Korn, S., (2001), Tackling violence in schools: A report from Germany. Download: www.goldsmiths.ac.ac.uk/connect/reportgermany.html

World Health Organisation, (1999), " WHO information series on School Health ", Document 3, WHO, Geneva.