Dr. Abednego Musau

School violence is widely held to have become a serious problem in recent decades in many countries. It includes violence between school students as well as physical attacks by students on school staff. Interpersonal physical violence is an important global public health concern that has received limited attention in the developing world There is in particular a paucity of data regarding physical violence and its socio-demographic correlates among in-school adolescents in Kenya.

 Involvement in bully–victim problems is a risk factor for poor psychological health

We analyzed cross-sectional data from the survey of alcohol, substance use and the living conditions of Kenyan school youth conducted in July-October We aimed to estimate the prevalence and socio- demographic correlates of physical fighting within the last 12 months. We obtained frequencies of socio-demographic attributes. We also assessed the association between self- reported history of having engaging in a physical violence and a selected list of independent variables using logistic regression.

Socio-demographic characteristics and prevalence of violent behavior among school adolescents of Nairobi, Machakos and Makueni counties in Kenya, = 3311

VariableBoy n(%) Girl n(%) Total n(%)

VariableBoy n(%) Girl n(%) Total n(%)

Violence-related behaviors’ Male n(%) female n(%) Total n(%) Punched somebody**517(34.2)439(30.2)956(32.2) Knocked somebody over**544(35.5)457(31.6)1001(33.5) Kicked somebody**609(40.3)502(34.7)1111(37.5) Hit/slapped somebody653(43.2)601(41.4)1254(42.3) Held somebody by their neck**360(23.9)237(16.3)597(20.2) Threatened somebody with violence**279(18.5)203(14)482(16.3) being a part of a gang starting fight with another group** 260(17.3)170(11.7)430(14.6) being part of a group physically hurting an individual**211(14)132(9.1)343(11.6) being attacked by a group**298(19.8)188(13)486(16.5) being in a group that was attacked by another group**236(15.8)158(10.9)394(13.4) Engaged in any type of physical violence954(55.9)860(53.6)1814(54.8)

Alcohol drinking in the past 30days 3.11( )< Marijuana consumption in the past 30 days 3.81( )< Cigarette consumption in last 30 days 2.94( )< Any forms of drug Use3.86( )< Suicidal ideation1.25( ) Suicidal attempt1.31( ) Rejected by friends1.38( )<

History of psychological abuse 1.36( )0.000 Involvement in gangs7.36( )< Exposed to physical violence at home where an adult was involved 1.27( ) Involved in physical violence at home where an adult was involved 1.43( )< Depression1.07( )<

Good relationship with parents 0.98( ) Good relationship with peers 0.98( ) Good parental supervision 0.98( ) Positive attitude towards school 0.98( ) High self-esteem0.97( )0.0001

 Overall 54.8% of the students had been involved in some form of physical violence with most prevalent violent behavior reported as hitting / slapping somebody (42.3%)  Males students were significantly more likely than females students to engage in each of the behaviors examined except hit/slapped somebody  Females reported higher prevalence’s of any form of physical violence compared to males had they were not statistically significant.

 There is high prevalence of violence related behaviors among school going adolescents.  Involvement in physical violence is very common among school age children in many parts of the world (Pickett et al,. 2006)  Higher prevalence of violent behavior among males was observed as well as association between this behavior and cigarette smoking, drug use, parental supervision and depression, regardless of sex.

 The strongest predictors of physical violence were ◦ Cigarette smoking O.R 4.2( ) ◦ Drug use O.R ( ) ◦ Parental supervision O.R 0.984( ) ◦ Depression O.R ( )  For an intervention to be effective, the targeted risk factors must be amenable to change.

 Adolescents providing the study data were essentially volunteers, and sampling could not therefore be random.  Accordingly, the population to which the findings can be generalized is not clear.  The study methods permit the establishment of probable risk factors only, rather than undisputed causal relations

 Assisting victimized children to develop self- protective assertiveness skills  Working therapeutically with perpetretorsto establish a greater awareness of the consequences of their antisocial behaviour.