STAMINA – Formation of Non-Violent Behaviour in School and Leisure Time Among Young Adults from Violent Families

According to available research, the relation between psychological and/or physical violence experienced by young adults as victims within the family and violence at school with young adults as perpetrators is particularly close. STAMINA project aims at determining factors of violence resiliency, in order to find out how young adults with family conditions that hinder the development of violence-free conflict resolution alternatives can still develop violence-free behaviour. The concrete objective is to identify factors which encourage a violence-free development at school and in leisure time even under difficult family socialization conditions. In doing so, we highlight factors which seem malleable in families, schools and extracurricular peer context, and which allow the development of guidelines for creating effective measures.

The research comprises a cross-sectional study divided into a quantitative and a qualitative part in 20 schools of primary education level in Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Spain. In each school 2 classes of 14 to 15 year old youngsters will be interviewed by structured questionnaire. These interviews aim at collecting data on violence socialization in family, school and leisure time. This initial step of data collection ought to provide a first quantitatively oriented perimeter of relevant factors concerning violence resiliency. In a second step these factors will be examined by matched samples qualitative interviews on violence socialization. 80 pairs of young adults (20 pairs per country) with similar preconditions (e.g. sex, language acquisition level, familial and school socialization) but with different violence behaviour will be surveyed. The aim is to explain the reasons for dissimilarities in violence behaviour among pupils.

Project leader: Majda Hrženjak
Project coworkers: Ana Fratnik and Živa Humer