Exposure to violence among adolescents in a low-income community in the northeast of Brazil

• Published in: Ciência & saude coletiva 2013-05, Vol.18 (5), p.1273-1282
• Main Authors: Moreira, Deborah Pedrosa, Vieira, Luiza Jane Eyre de Souza, Pordeus, Augediva Maria Jucá, Lira, Samira Valentim Gama, Luna, Geisy Lanne Muniz, e Silva, Juliana Guimarães, Machado, Maria de Fátima Antero Sousa
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; por
• Subjects: Absenteeism; Adolescent; Adolescents; Alcohol Abuse; Brazil; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Fathers; Female; Humans; Low Income Areas; Male; Methodology (Data Collection); Parents; Poverty; Risk Factors; Support Networks; Violence - statistics & numerical data
• ISSN: 1413-8123; 1678-4561
• DOI: 10.1590/S1413-81232013000500012

This a cross-sectional study made in Fortaleza, Ceará, 2009, which included 458 teenagers and analyzed their exposure to violence, describing their access to weapons, alcohol abuse, illegal drug use and their self-esteem by investigating their socio-economic, school and family characteristics and exposure to the phenomenon. A questionnaire and/or structured interviews were used for data collection, and analysis involved Pearson's chi-square test, with 95% reliability. Of the 458 participants, 17.7% were considered to be exposed to criminal violence. Significant variables for exposure to violence included: place of birth (p = 0.020), years of schooling (p = 0,009), school absenteeism (p < 0.001), the father as the head of the family (p = 0.026), alcohol-addicted parents (p < 0.001), good/very good family relationships (p = 0.009), and parents' dissatisfaction with their children's friends (p < 0.001). Thus, it is necessary that public policies focus on a support network for care of adolescents and that urban centers organize themselves socially and politically in the quest for understanding the effects of exposure to violence among adolescents in low-income communities.