Peer violence perpetration and victimization are the most common types of violence among youths (Swahn et al., 2008). This study determined the associations between peer violence attitudes and involvement in peer violence perpetration and peer violence victimization among boys and girls in high-risk urban community. Analyses were based on data from the 2004 Youth Violence Survey, administered to over 80% of public school students in grades 7, 9, 11, and 12 (N = 4131) in a high-risk urban community. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the associations between attitudes and involvement in violent behaviors after controlling for demographic characteristics and potential confounders (e.g., child maltreatment, substance use, weapon carrying, and efficacy to avoid violence). Results show that among all youths, attitudes supporting boys hitting boys significantly increased the odds of peer violence perpetration (AOR: 1.48; 95% CI = 1.13, 1.95). However, stratified analyses for boys and girls show that attitudes supporting boys hitting boys increased the odds of peer violence perpetration for girls only (AOR: 1.57; 95% CI = 1.04, 2.37). The findings demonstrate associations between attitudes and actual involvement in violent behaviors, but they need to be further explored. Additional research is needed to determine how attitude modifications can be incorporated into youth violence prevention programs.

Våld i olika former beskrivs av många vara ett omfattande och ihållande samhällsproblem, ett som skapar en uppsättning av negativa påföljder; psykiska, fysiska och ekonomiska. Hur våldet ska motarbetas blir därför på grund av dess komplexitet svårt att ge tydliga direktiv på. Olika vetenskapliga ställningstaganden kring vilka interventioner som är effektiva kan vara något motsägelsefulla för den som försöker sätta fingret på vad våldsförebyggande arbete inom skolan betyder. Denna studie syftar därför till att undersöka lärares och skolkuratorers sätt att prata om våldsprevention; vad det innebär och hur det ser ut för dem i deras vardag. Studien utfördes utifrån en kvalitativ metodansats där datan samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med lärare och kuratorer från skolor inom olika utbildningsnivåer. Resultatet analyserades genom en diskursanalys för att få fram essensen i deltagarnas svar, men även för att undersöka vilken betydelse dessa svar har i det praktiska våldspreventiva arbetet. Resultatet visar att en god elev-lärare relation, tillsammans med samverkan mellan skolkuratorer och lärare, kan vara viktiga aspekter i det våldspreventiva arbetet; liksom att undersöka konstruktionen av våld utifrån ett genusperspektiv. / Violence in various forms is often described by many as a widespread and persistent social problem, one that creates a range of negative consequences; psychological, physical and economic. Because of its complexity, it is difficult to give clear directives on how to combat violence. Different scientific positions on which interventions are effective can be somewhat contradictory for those trying to pinpoint what violence prevention work in schools means. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate teachers' and school counselors' way of talking about violence prevention, what it means and how it looks for them in their everyday lives. The study was carried out using a qualitative approach, where the data was collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers and counselors from schools at different education levels. The results were analyzed through a discourse analysis to bring out the essence of the participants' responses, but also to examine the significance of these responses in practical violence prevention. The results show that a good student-teacher relationship, along with collaboration between school counselors and teachers, can be important aspects in violence prevention; as well as examining the construction of violence from a gender perspective.

In this thesis, I will argue that the role different types of perceived threat play is fundamental for how people can become more hostile or violent. Scholars have previously studied how threat perceptions can lead to outgroup hostilities and violent attitudes. Sometimes they have distinguished between realistic threats, those pertaining to wellbeing, safety and economic resources, and symbolic threats, related to culture, identity and values. Yet, despite previous research, systematic experimental evidence is scarce. Therefore, this thesis has attempted to answer the question of how realistic and symbolic threat perceptions affect outgroup hostilities through a novel survey-experimental design (n = 97) making use of Amazon’s MTurk for recruitment. It found that those exposed to a realistically framed threat exhibit more pragmatist attitudes, whereas those exposed to a symbolically framed threat leaned towards more vicious responses, although these latter results lacked statistical significance. This thesis found no difference in violent attitudes for these two types of perceived threat. These findings are important as they teach us how people can become more hostile, and how we can be aware of how actors, such as politicians, can use threat framing to achieve certain objectives.