Abstract
Background: The damaging effects of direct and indirect experience of interpersonal violence on children’s development are widely acknowledged. The objective of the present study was to analyze lifetime victimization among adolescents of a community sample. Method: Participants were 608 adolescents aged 12-18 from Northern Spain. The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire was used to measure lifetime victimization. Results: Over 90% of the adolescent population has been exposed to some kind of victimization. Participants reported an average of 5.50 lifetime victimization experiences and 75% of the sample reported the experience of at least two forms of victimization. The 10% most victimized part of the sample, participants reporting 11 or more victimizations, were classified as polyvictims. Conclusions: Victimization is very frequent even among community adolescents, especially peer victimization and witnessing community violence.
