Factors associated with the type of violence perpetrated against adolescents in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil

Abstract To analyze the factors associated with the types of violence against adolescents reported in Pernambuco, Brazil, from 2009 to 2012. Prevalence study conducted through an electronic database from the Violence Surveillance Official System in a population of 5259 adolescents (aged 10–19 years). Poisson regression was used, with significance level at 5%. There was a significant increase of 204% in the number of violence reports, and the number of reporting units increased by 92.6%. When separately evaluated, physical violence was the most prevalent type, accounting for 44.7% of the reports. Taking as independent variables the age range of 15–19 years, female, having no disability, and public roads as place of occurrence, the positively and independently associated factors were: male gender (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.4–1.6) with physical violence; having deficiency (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.5–2.0) with psychological violence; age range of 10–14 years (PR 2.4, 95% CI 2.2–2.6) with sexual assault; and male (OR 3.9, 95% CI 2.0–7.5), having disabilities (PR 4.6, 95% CI 2.7–9.7), and occurrence in residence (PR 2.8, 95% CI 1.3–6.1) with neglect. Age between 10 to 14 years was associated with the occurrence of sexual assault; male with the occurrence of physical violence and neglect; having disabilities with psychological violence and neglect; and occurrence in the residence was associated with neglect.