Cu LL, Blum RW

Language: English
References: 17
Page: 23-28
PDF size: 95.07 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Violent acts in young people constitute one of the most serious forms of violence in any society. Violence by young people in schools, on the streets, and in their families has been documented in many studies worldwide. Homicide and non-fatal assaults involving young people have been reported as a great global burden of premature death, injury and disability. Adolescents and young people are both the main victims and perpetrators of such violence. In Vietnam, an emerging pattern of health problems in adolescents related to intentional injury and violence is drawing increasingly more attention from government and the public.
Objetive: Describe the situation of intentional injury among Vietnamese youth, including risk and protective factors, in order to suggest policy implications.
Methods: The 2003 Survey Assessment of Vietnamese Youth was used as a data source, providing a nationally representative sample of 7584 youth aged 14–25 years, resident in 42 of the country’s 61 provinces. This sample was drawn from the 45,000 households in the 2002 Vietnam Living Standards Survey, with a multi-staged and stratified design, using the probability-proportional-to-size method to maintain representativity. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques.
Results: Of the sample of young people, 2.2% reported injury resulting from violent behavior by a family member and 8.0% by non-family members, the latter demonstrating a significantly higher rate among males than females (13.6% vs. 2.4%). Characteristics of youth most likely to hurt others included: male sex, inebriation at some point, victims of intentional injury, group riot participants and carriers of weapons. Youth who had been members of mass social organizations or clubs in the community were half as likely to hurt other people as those who were unaffiliated with such groups. Females were almost four times more likely than males to attempt suicide. Other risk factors for suicide attempts were past inebriation (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.3–5.4), ever having been a victim of intentional injury by a family member (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.1–11.5) or ever having had feelings of hopelessness (OR 6.5, 95% CI 3.3–13.6).
Conclusions: Prevalence of violence and self-harm among Vietnamese youth is comparatively less than in Western and other Asian countries. Risk and protective factors appear similar to those found in most populations. In particular, this study indicated a possible protective effect of membership in social groups. National policy for injury prevention should include strategies to reduce violence and self-harm within this population group.

REFERENCES

1. Reza A, Mercy JA, Krug EG. Epidemiology of violent deaths in the world. Inj Prev. 2001 Jun;7(2):104–11.

2. Krug EG, Mercy JA, Dahlberg LL, Zwi AB. The world report on violence and health. The Lancet. 2002 Oct 5;360(9339):1083–8.

3. Krug EG, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, Zwi AB, Lozano R, editors. World report on violence and health, 2002. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2002.

4. Gofi n R, Avitzour M, Haklai Z, Jellin N. Intentional injuries among the young: presentation to emergency rooms, hospitalization, and death in Israel. J Adolesc Health. 2000 Dec;27(6):434–42.

5. Hasbrouck LM, Durant T, Ward E, Gordon G. Surveillance of interpersonal violence in Kingston, Jamaica: an evaluation. Inj Control Safe Promot. 2002 Dec;9(4):249–53.

6. Lee LK, Chen PC, Lee KK, Kaur J. ViolenceRelated Behaviours among Malaysian Adolescents: a Cross Sectional Survey among Secondary School Students in Negeri Sembilan. Ann Acad Med Singapore. 2007 Mar;36(3):169–74.

7. Wong JP, Stewart SM, Ho SY, Rao U, Lam TH. Exposure to suicide and suicidal behaviors among Hong Kong adolescents. Soc Sci Med. 2005 Aug;61(3):591–9.

8. Liu X, Tein JY, Zhao Z, Sandler IN. Suicidality and correlates among rural adolescents of China. J Adolesc Health. 2005 Dec;37(6):443–51.

9. Chen PC, Lee LK, Wong KC, Kaur J. Factors relating to adolescent suicidal behavior: a crosssectional Malaysian school survey. J Adolesc Health. 2005 Oct;37(4):337.

10. Linnan MJP, Viet Pham C, Le LC, Le PN, Le AV, editors. Report to UNICEF on the Vietnam Multicenter Injury Survey. Hanoi; The VietNam Public Health Research Network, 2003. 113 p.

11. Krantz G, Nguyen DV. The role of controlling behaviour in intimate partner violence and its health effects: a population based study from rural Vietnam. BMC Public Health. 2009 May 14;9(1):143.

12. Ministry of Health (VN), National Policy on Accident and Injury Prevention Stage 2002–2010. Hanoi Publishing House of Social Labour; 2003.

13. UNICEF. Survey Assessment of Vietnamese Youth; 2005.

14. Blum RW. Healthy Youth Development as a Model for Youth Health Promotion: A Review. Journal of Adolescent Health. 1998 May;22(5):368–75.

15. Hosmer DW, Lemeshow S. Applied Logistic Regression. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley Interscience Publication; 2000 Sep. 392 p.

16. WHO. World report on child injury prevention. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2008.

17. Wong JP, Stewart SM, Claassen C, Lee PW, Rao U, Lam TH. Repeat suicide attempts in Hong Kong community adolescents. Soc Sci Med. 2008 Jan;66(2):232–41.