Victimization and polyvictimization among Spanish youth protected by the child welfare system

Abstract

Objective: To analyze lifetime and past-year victimization and polyvictimization among adolescents in residential care from a southwestern European country. Also, age and gender differences in victimization profiles were examined. Method: A sample of 129 youths aged 12–17 years old (M = 14.58, SD = 1.62; 65 females) were recruited from 18 residential facilities in Spain. The 36-item interview version of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (Finkelhor, Hamby, Ormrod, & Turner, 2005) was used to assess interpersonal victimization experiences. Results: All adolescents reported at least one type of victimization during lifetime, and 85.3% did so for the past year. The most common lifetime and past-year victimization experiences were witnessing and indirect victimization (90.7% and 51.9%, respectively) and conventional crime (88.4% and 66.7%, respectively). Females were more likely to report lifetime and past-year witnessing of family violence (OR = 3.37 and OR = 8.51, respectively) and caregiver victimization (OR = 2.98 and OR = 5.92, respectively), and past-year sexual victimization with physical contact (OR = 4.36 and OR = 3.40, respectively) than were males. Regarding polyvictimization thresholds, 53.1% and 26.5% of protected adolescents were lifetime and past-year polyvictims, respectively, and they suffered victimizations from 3 to 6 different domains in both time frames. Conclusions: Victimization and polyvictimization should be continuously assessed in the child welfare system in order to prevent future exposure to violence among already vulnerable adolescents.