School Victimization Among Adolescents. An Analysis from an Ecological Perspective

AbstractThe present study has two objectives. The first is to analyze the relationships between community (integration in the community), family (perception of family climate), school (perception of school climate) and individual (social reputation and satisfaction with life) and school victimization among adolescents, from an ecological perspective. Secondly, this study aims to examine the differences in these relationships between boys and girls. The sample is composed of 1795 adolescents of both sexes (52% boys and 48% girls) whose ages range from 11 to 18 years old (M=14.2, SD=1.68) and who are all from the Spanish Autonomous Community of Andalucia. A model of structural equations was calculated using the EQS program. The results indicated that school climate and satisfaction with life are positively associated with victimization. In addition, community integration and family climate are related to victimization through life satisfaction. The multigroup analysis by sex indicated that the relationship between school climate and social reputation, as well as between implication in the community and social reputation were only statistically significant in the case of boys. Finally, the results obtained and their potential implications are discussed from an ecological point of view