Componentes actitudinales de la violencia escolaridentificación y evaluación de procesos psicosociales básicos implicados en la violencia en Educación Primaria y Secundaria

Resumen

Introduction: School violence is a common social phenomenon in schools that affects at least one out of three minors. In recent years, the scientific community has made efforts to evaluate, understand and reduce violent behaviors in the school context. The set of variables related to whether these behaviors occur or not is broad, incorporating social, family, school, relational and individual variables. Of these, individual factors have been shown to be the best predictors of both victimization and involvement in school violence. Among the individual variables, the evidence highlights the importance of attitudes toward violence in preventing or reducing school violence. Following the modality of a compendium of publications, the general aim of this work is to explore and evaluate in detail the relationship between these variables with a multimethod approach and, finally, to maximize the results of programs aimed at improving school coexisting or violence prevention programs. Method: For the first study, a systematic review was conducted in the main databases. Effect sizes were calculated and synthesized using random effects meta-analysis for the relationship between attitudes toward violence and school violence. A meta-regression was performed for the moderating analysis of sex and age. In the second study, focus groups and thematic analysis were conducted on a sample of 96 participants from Spanish Primary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education schools. In the third study, an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the CAVH-25 scale was conducted in a sample of 600 children in Primary and Compulsory Secondary Education. In the fourth study, a qualitative review of the CAVH-25 scale was conducted, incorporating new items and conducting an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 600 minors from Primary and Compulsory Secondary Education. In the fifth study, a quasi-experimental design was carried out with 256 minors. The school coexistence program was adapted and applied through an intervention of eight face-to-face sessions and a peer-mediation module. Results: Firstly, the structured review process yielded a final result of 23 studies, estimating a positive and significant relationship (r = 0,368 p < 0,001; 95% CI = [0,323, 0,412]) between attitudes and school violence in minors. Secondly, the results of the qualitative study identify a set of attitudes toward violence that are common in minors related to violence: as a way to feel better or increase self-esteem, as leisure or fun, perceived as legitimate, when violence is exercised against those who are different, when it has no consequences, to solve conflicts, to socialize and to attract the attention of peers. Thirdly, a reduced version of the questionnaire (CAHV-10) was obtained, divided into two factors with appropriate psychometric properties. Fourthly, a new questionnaire (CAHV-28) was obtained, divided into four dimensions, with appropriate psychometric properties and providing cut-off points for its interpretation. Finally, with the implementation of the program, a change in the tendency of perceived violence was observed, identifying a decrease in the indicators of antisocial behavior and an increase in prosocial behavior in the intervention group. Conclusions: The studies included in this thesis provide evidence on the importance of assessing and intervening in attitudes toward violence in order to improve school climate. The multimethod approach used facilitates the deepening on the attitude-violent behavior relationship, exploring it with different levels of specificity, being useful for both research and intervention professionals.