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Montreal’s public health authorities are shedding light on an increase in acts of violence in the city’s high schools, with girls bearing the brunt of that trend.<\/p>\n
The findings are based on a survey of more than 5,800 students from Grade 7 to Grade 11 in 92 Montreal high schools \u2014 including French-speaking, English-speaking, public and private institutions.<\/p>\n
According to a Montreal Public Health report published this week, 41 per cent of students said they experienced violence in 2022-23, up from 36 per cent in 2016-17.<\/p>\n
The report defines violence as either direct \u2014 involving interactions between the perpetrator and the victim \u2014 or indirect \u2014 such as the spread of rumours. It can take the form of physical, psychological, sexual and economic abuse, as well as neglect.<\/p>\n
Here are the key takeaways of the report.<\/p>\n
Girls increasingly impacted<\/p>\n
Public health officials have noticed a slight rise in violence against students in high schools or on their way to school between the 2016-17 and 2022-23 editions of the study. <\/p>\n
This increase is particularly pronounced among girls and Grade 9 students and less marked among boys and students in other grades.<\/p>\n
Ariane De Palacio, author of the study, told Radio-Canada’s Premi\u00e8re Ligne that it is difficult to explain this phenomenon. Still, she highlighted the context in which the 2022-23 study was conducted: after the COVID-19 pandemic and the upheavals it caused, especially in young people’s lives.<\/p>\n
Though girls are increasingly affected by violence in high schools, boys are proportionally more likely (45 per cent) than girls (37 per cent) to report experiencing violence either often or a few times. <\/p>\n
Age and socio-economic factors<\/p>\n
Age also plays an important role. Students in grades 7, 8, and 9 reported the highest rates of victimization. <\/p>\n
Violence tends to decline in the last two years of high school, De Palacio observed.<\/p>\n
Higher levels of violent victimization than average are also reported among Grade 8 and 9 students, boys, and youths from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. <\/p>\n
Youths attending disadvantaged\u00a0schools report significantly higher rates of violence than those attending non-disadvantaged\u00a0schools.<\/p>\n
Psychological toll<\/p>\n
The study also highlights a strong link between victimization and mental health.<\/p>\n
In Montreal, a proportionally smaller number of students who have been victims of violence report good mental health, while a larger number report poor mental health.<\/p>\n
The report outlines “striking” gender differences: the vast majority of young female victims face high levels of psychological distress, compared with less than half of male victims.<\/p>\n
But these gender differences appear more nuanced when comparing victims and non-victims.<\/p>\n
For high levels of psychological distress, the difference between victims and non-victims is relatively similar across genders.<\/p>\n
How to protect kids from violence<\/p>\n
De Palacio also pointed to the role of social media and the “way violence is portrayed there.” She said social media can act as a “sounding board” for violence. <\/p>\n
“Since the pandemic, a significant part of young people\u2019s lives has moved online, exacerbating violence,” she explained, noting that this shift is also linked to high levels of psychological distress.<\/p>\n
Despite the concerning findings, De Palacio identifies several factors that can help protect young people from violence and its consequences, including: <\/p>\n
Good mental health. Good self-esteem.Well-developed personal and social skills.Pro-social peers and close parental supervision. Strong social support at school, especially among girls, within the family and in the community.<\/p>\n
De Palacio concluded that addressing youth violence is not just the school’s responsibility and that parents can also be better equipped by staying informed and engaged in their children’s lives. <\/p>\n
Cellphone ban in Quebec ‘cant hurt’<\/p>\n
The head of the Association qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise du personnel de direction des \u00e9coles, which represents principals and other administrative staff members in schools, says he’s not surprised by the report’s findings.<\/p>\n
“We see it in schools. There is a real increase [in violence] going back several years,” Andr\u00e9 Bernier told Radio-Canada, adding that it’s very noticeable in high schools.<\/p>\n
Like the report, he also puts part of the blame on social media and believes the cellphone ban in Quebec schools could eventually help reverse the trend of increasing violence.<\/p>\n
He said students “will rebuild their ties and re-learn” how to get along with each other. <\/p>\n
“It can’t hurt,” Bernier said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-564856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}