Violenza assistita e comportamenti devianti dei giovani in Italia: i risultati dell'International Self-report Delinquency Study-3

The current study is based on an in-depth international survey, International Self-Report Delinquency Study- 3 (ISRD-3), aimed at studying the relationship between the domestic violence and juvenile deviant behaviors. Particularly, the Authors focus on witnessing violence. The purpose of this study is to observe whether children who witness the intimate partners violence commit a lot of deviant acts and whether they are victimized outside the family context. The data have been collected by a questionnaire "ISRD- 3", administered to an Italian sample of young students from 7th to 9th grade. As indicators of parental conflict the Authors have taken into account the following events: physical fights between parents, repeated and serious conflict beteween parents. The results show that the witnessing violence, though quantitatively limited, is linked to high levels of antisocial behaviors of young people. Moreover, the presence in the same houseold of interparental violence and violence committed by parents on the children indicate that the witnessing violence is an important family risk factor.