Victimization among high school students in Thailand
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| Author | Moshe Sherer,Penchan Pradubmook-Sherer |
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865815585389 |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology
2016, Vol. 49(3) 370–388
!The Author(s) 2015
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0004865815585389
anj.sagepub.com
Article
Victimization among high
school students in Thailand
Penchan Pradubmook-Sherer
Department of Society and Health, Faculty of Social Sciences and
Humanities, Mahidol University, Nakornchaisri, Nakornpathom, Thailand
Moshe Sherer
Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Abstract
Victimization rates in home, school, and community were studied, among high school
students aged 13–18, in three regions of Thailand: Bangkok (urban region), the West (rural
region), and the South (Muslim region). The random sample consisted of 1305 high school
students: 542 (41.5%) males and 763 (58.5%) females. Results indicated that the southern
provinces had the highest victimization rates in all the studied categories. Males were
victimized more than females. The reasons behind these results are being dealt with in
light of the political and cultural characteristics of Thailand. Recommendations to ease the
victimization rates of youth in Thailand are suggested.
Keywords
Adolescence, gender, high school, Thailand, victimization
Victimization is complex. Societies with different cultures, values, and norm sys-
tems have different ways of defining, understanding, and accepting the phenom-
enon, which complicate its study and the cross-country comparison of victimization
rates.
Victimization of youth is a globally widespread reality. The World Health
Organization report in 2002, which dealt with 48 population-based studies from
around the world, indicated that involvement in physical fighting was very common
among school-age children in many parts of the world. Results show that approximately
20% of women and between 5% and 10% of men reported having been sexually abused
as children, and between 10% and 69% of women reported having been physically
assaulted by an intimate partner during their lifetime (Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy,
Dahlberg, & Zwi, 2002). In a cross-national study of 40 countries on the profile of
bullying and victimization among adolescents, Craig et al. (2009) found that bullying
Corresponding author:
Moshe Sherer, Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69887, Israel.
Email: sherer1@post.tau.ac.il
victimization rates for boys and girls aged 15 ranged from 27.1% for boys and 13.5% for
girls in Canada; 23.5% for boys and 10.2% for girls in Israel; 32% for boys and 13.4%
for girls in Italy; 36.1% for boys and 14.5% for girls in Luxemburg; 36.5% for boys and
21% for girls in the USA.
Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, and Hamby (2009) claimed that 46.3% of American
youth had been assaulted at least once in the past year (50.2% of males and 42.1% of
females); 10.2% had been injured in an assault; 24.6% had been victims of robbery,
vandalism, or theft; 10.2% had suffered from child maltreatment including physical and
emotional abuse, and 6.1% had been victimized sexually. Multiple victimizations were
common: 38.7% had experienced 2 or more direct victimizations in the previous year,
10.9% had experienced 5 or more, and 1.4% had experienced 10 or more. Reid and
Sullivan (2009) stated that most youth within the general population experienced no
incidents of victimization, whereas at the other end of the spectrum, a small group of
persons experienced repeated victimization. The literature review indicates victimization
of youth is very common among school-age children around the world.
In this study, which reflects the results of the first round of a three years longitu-
dinal study, we attempted to explore victimization rates among high school students
from three distinctive regions of Thailand: Bangkok, exemplifying the general
urban population; a rural area in the West; and the Muslim region in the South, that
is being studied for the first time. As violence and victimization are related, and given
the daily terror reality in the southern Muslim parts of Thailand, we expected victim-
ization rates to be high in the South; we expected the victimization rates in the more
traditional rural areas to be lower than in the city (Farrell & Sullivan, 2004; Sherer &
Sherer, 2014).
The following are the four leading victimology theories explaining victimization in
criminology today: victim precipitation theory, the lifestyle theory, deviant place theory,
and the routine activities theory (Siegel, 2006).
Theoretical background
The victim precipitation theory (Wolfgang, 1958) proposes that some people cause or
initiate a particular confrontation that may eventually lead to that person becoming a
victim. Such precipitation can be either passive or active. Passive precipitation occurs
when the victim has characteristics that unknowingly motivate, instigate, encourage, or
threaten the attacker. Such crimes can exist due to power struggles that create personal
conflicts, such as youth competing for the same girl’s affection. Active precipitation
exists when the victim acts knowingly in a provocative manner, uses aggressive language
or threats, or simply attacks first (Siegel, 2006).
The lifestyle theory (Hindelang, Gottfredson, & Garofalo, 1978) suggests that victim-
ization is not random, but is part of the individual’s lifestyle. Individuals are targeted
based on their behaviors that expose them to criminal offenders and situations that may
contribute to their victimization by putting themselves at risk. Youth behaviors, such as
going out late at night, associating with violent peers, taking drugs, drinking, and
participating in criminal activities, increase the risk of becoming victims.
The deviant place theory (Stark, 1987) is an ecological theory of crime. It maintains
that a correlation exists between variations in neighborhood characteristics and deviance
Pradubmook-Sherer and Sherer 371
To continue reading
Request your trial