The Prevalence of Exposure to Domestic Violence Among High School Students in Tehran

BACKGROUND: Domestic violence appears to be a major social problem. Researches in the last 10 years have uncovered multiple effects of witnessing domestic violence on children, ranging in severity from little or no effect to sever psychological harm. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to measure the prevalence of exposure to domestic violence among high school students in Tehran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on high school students of Tehran in the school year 2011–2012. The “Children’s Exposure to Domestic Violence Scale” was administered to a total cohort of 1,212 students (615 males and 597 females) selected by the stratified sampling method. RESULTS: Approximately one-half of the participants (44.3%) had been exposed to their fathers’s violence against their mothers at least sometimes in their lives, the most common form of which was preventing the mother from doing something (28.5%) and the least common, hurting the mother with sharp or deadly tools (9.6%). A substantial proportion of the students (90.6%) had been exposed to violence in the community or at school, the most common kind would be being heard from someone calling another person names or making fun of them (81.7%) and the least common, being injured a child in the community or at school (31.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to violence is a widespread problem among children in Tehran. It encompasses a wide range and children were exposed to violence in different ways and forms.