Exposure to violence, teacher support, and school delay amongst adolescents in South Africa

Toward a Contextually Sensitive Understanding of Polyvictimization: A Latent Class Analysis of Violence, Risks, and Protections Among South African Adolescents From Highly Deprived Settings

South African adolescents experience a high prevalence of violence victimization alongside the health and economic burdens of HIV/AIDS and poverty. Polyvictimization is a useful theory and framework that allows for a nuanced understanding of lived adolescent experience patterns. Polyvictimization examinations are further enriched by person-centered analytical approaches. This study used latent class analysis to differentiate a sample of South African adolescents from highly deprived communities by their polyvictimization profiles and contextual violence risk and protective factors. Adolescents were sampled twice (2010/2011; 2011/2012), and data reflected their lifetime (sexual abuse) or recent (all other forms of assessed abuse/violence) violence victimizations, as well as individual, household, and community characteristics. Model fit indices supported a seven-class model with adolescents in high, moderate, and low polyvictimization classes. Adolescents in the high polyvictimization classes experienced a heavy burden of poverty and multiple forms of violence across contexts and were distinguished by HIV/AIDS and disability. Adolescents in the low polyvictimization class experienced relatively little violence, despite living in violent communities, and low household and individual burdens of HIV/AIDS and disability. Findings emphasize the importance of considering adolescent violence through a contextually sensitive polyvictimization lens to understand the complex web of violence that adolescents experience. This work supports previous research in low-resource South African settings highlighting the interconnected nature of violence, poverty, disability, and HIV/AIDS. Future research should explore these complex violence patterns and their effects, while program and policy actions must target and prevent adolescent violence especially for those impacted by poverty, disability, and HIV/AIDS.

"We can't share things with our teachers": Narratives of mistrust and disconnect between South African female learners and their teachers

The quality and nature of student-teacher relationships have implications outside of the academic domain. Support from teachers plays a significant protective role in the mental and emotional well-being of adolescents and young people, and can help to reduce or delay their engagement in risk behaviours, thereby decreasing negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes such as teenage pregnancy. Using the theory of teacher connectedness, an element of school connectedness, this research explores the narratives surrounding teacher-student relationships amongst South African adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and teachers. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 10 teachers, and 63 in-depth interviews and 24 focus group discussions with 237 AGYW aged 15-24 from five South African provinces characterised by high rates of HIV and teenage pregnancy amongst AGYW. Analysis of the data followed a thematic and collaborative approach, comprising coding, analytic memo-ing, and verification of emerging interpretations through discussion and participant feedback workshops. Findings related to perceptions of support and connectedness in teacher-student relationships centred around AGYW narratives of mistrust and a lack of support from teachers, and the consequential negative implications for academic performance and motivation to attend school, self-esteem, and mental health. Teachers' narratives centred around challenges providing support, feeling overwhelmed and incapable of fulfilling multiple roles. Findings provide valuable insight into student-teacher relationships in South Africa, their impact on educational attainment, and on the mental health and sexual and reproductive health of AGYW.

A Cross-Country Network Analysis of Adolescent Resilience

PURPOSE

In situations of adversity, young people draw on individual, relational, and contextual (community and cultural) resources to foster their resilience. Recent literature defines resilience as a capacity that is underpinned by a network of interrelated resources. Although empirical studies show evidence of the value of a network approach, little is known regarding how different country contexts influence which resources are most critical within a resource network and how resources interact for adolescent resilience.

METHODS

Network analysis was conducted with data from studies that had used the Child and Youth Resilience Measure. Regularized partial correlation networks of 17 resources were estimated for 14 countries (Botswana, Canada, China, Colombia, Equatorial Guinea, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Romania, South Africa, and Syrian refugees living in Jordan). The sample size was 18,914 (mean age = 15.70 years, 48.8% female).

RESULTS

We observed mostly positive associations between the resources of interest. The salience and strength of associations between resources varied by country. The most central resource across countries was having supportive caregivers during stressful times because this resource had the most and strongest positive associations with other resources.

CONCLUSIONS

This study gives first empirical evidence from multiple countries that an interplay of social-ecological resources (such as individual skills, peer, caregiver and community support, and educational aspirations and opportunities) matter for adolescent resilience. Across countries, caregiver support appears to be most central for adolescent resilience. Future resilience interventions might apply this network approach to identify important, contextually relevant resources that likely foster additional resources.

Strategies by Educators within the School Setting to Prevent and Cope with the Experience of Domestic Violence by Adolescents

Objective: This work sought to identify, in the discourse of educators, which strategies they can implement, within the school setting, to prevent and cope with the experience of domestic violence by adolescents. Method: Qualitative study based on the critical-liberating perspective of Paulo Freire, conducted with 20 educators from a public school in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. To collect the data, the interview was used and, to systematize them, the discourse of the collective subject. Results: The discourses reveal the following coping strategies of domestic violence experienced by adolescents: place into action the Guardianship Council; create reception and listening spaces for students; strengthen bonds between the school and family; promote educational actions, and articulate knowledge. Conclusions: The study provides paths to prevent and confront family abuses that compromise the physical and mental health of children and adolescents, with impact upon school performance. The study suggests the contribution of primary health care through actions linked to the Health in School Program and the insertion of the theme of violence in the different university careers, given that caring for children and adolescents and defending them constitutes an obligation for all citizens.

The Impact of Perceived Teacher Support on Anti-Immigrant Attitudes from Early to Late Adolescence

Although research has shown that school context has consequences for intergroup attitudes, few studies have examined the role of teacher qualities, such as teacher support. In addition, previous research has paid limited attention to the mechanisms that could help to explain teacher effects. This 5-wave study (2010–2015) examined the effects of perceived teacher support on the anti-immigrant attitudes of Swedish majority youth (N = 671, M_age = 13.41, 50.2% girls, 34 classrooms). It also tested whether social trust would mediate these effects. The results of multilevel analyses showed that perceived teacher support was associated with less prejudice at all levels of analysis. At the within-person level, fluctuations in teacher support were related to fluctuations in youth prejudice: in years when, on average, adolescents perceived their teachers as more supportive, they reported lower prejudice. At the between-person level, adolescents who perceived their teachers as more supportive compared to their peers reported lower prejudice. Similarly, classrooms where students shared an experience of teacher support were lower in prejudice than classrooms with weaker teacher support. The results also showed that social trust explained teacher effects: adolescents who experienced their teachers as more supportive displayed higher levels of trust and, in turn, lower levels of prejudice than youth with less supportive teachers. These findings suggest that teachers can counteract the development of prejudice and facilitate social trust in adolescents by being supportive of them.