NCJ Number
193080
Date Published
2002
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This study presented research findings in the United Kingdom on violence and violent behavior in girls’ lives from their experiences, views, and attitudes.
Abstract
Traditional thinking on violence has been predominantly gathered from research on boys and young men. Research has seen a lack in systematic studies of girls and the role violence plays in their lives in the United Kingdom. The findings in this study challenged this traditional thinking and attempted to provide an understanding to the meaning and function of violence in girls’ lives based on their experiences, views, and attitudes of girls themselves. This study included girls between the ages of 13 and 16 years of age living in the United Kingdom. Research methods included a self-report questionnaire, small group discussion, and individual interviews. Key findings were reported from the self-report data and girls’ experiences of violence that included: (1) 98.5 percent of girls had witnessed, first-hand, some form of interpersonal physical violence; (2) 58 percent reported being concerned about being sexually attacked; (3) 41 percent experienced being hit, punched, or kicked; (4) 91 percent experienced receiving verbal abuse; (5) 10 percent described themselves as violent and 10 percent stated having committed seven or more different types of physically violent acts; and (6) girls in the self-report group reported the highest level of violent victimization. Additional findings were presented on girls’ conceptualizations of violence, distinctions of violence, everyday encounters, acceptability and uses of violence, being violent, drugs and alcohol, victims and perpetrators, the importance of friendships, family relationships, girls’ perceptions of risks of violence, and managing and desisting from violence.