Abstract

SILVA, Carla Elizabeth da; OLIVEIRA, Ricardo Vigolo de; BANDEIRA, Denise Ruschel  and  SOUZA, Diogo Onofre de. Violence among peers: a case study in a public school in Esteio/RS - Brazil. Psicol. Esc. Educ. [online]. 2012, vol.16, n.1, pp. 83-93. ISSN 1413-8557.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-85572012000100009.

In this study we investigate the "peer violence" in a school Esteio / RS. 161 students participated, being 102 seventh graders and 59 eighth graders, 67 girls and 94 boys, aged between 12 and 20 years (M ± SD = 14.09 ± 1.19). We used the questionnaire "Peer Violence." The results show that 56.9% of the victims were students, 82.0%, observers, and 38.5%, offenders. Only 8.7% were assaulted more than three times. The aggression was verbal, most of the times (47.2%), followed by physical abuse (21.1%) and other forms of aggression (13.7%). We discuss the profile of the attackers, who are predominantly also victims. 70.3% of them have older siblings. There are drop rates of victimization in boys as they grow older. Most students rated the school environment and relationships with colleagues as positive. There is no association between victimization and worsening these evaluations. The presence of bullying was not significant.

Keywords : Public school education; violence; elementary education.