Structural vulnerability to community victimization and perception of insecurity in young students
Objectives: Identify the levels of perception of insecurity and community victimization (direct, indirect and contextual); compare the levels of perception of insecurity according to elements of structural vulnerability (gender, educational level and social class); to analyze the association between types of community victimization with gender, educational level, social class and level of perception of insecurity.
Methodology: A comparative and correlational study was carried out with a non-probability sample made up of 310 students (55.8% women and 44.2% men), with an age range of 13 to 24 years, belonging to different educational levels (junior-high school, high-school and college).
Results: Moderate levels of perception of insecurity were found, and a predominance of indirect and direct victimization for crimes such as robbery and assault. Contextual victimization is linked to high impact crimes such as homicide and disappearance. Women experience a greater perception of insecurity, direct sexual harassment, and more frequently report sexual violence and disappearance in their community. College level is closer to direct and contextual sexual violence. Belonging to a higher class was associated with direct and indirect victimization for robbery, as well as reporting disappearances in the community more frequently.
Conclusions: Gender was the element of structural vulnerability that was most associated with community victimization and the perception of insecurity. A high perception of insecurity is linked to direct victimization, as well as the occurrence of high impact crimes in the community.
Copyright (c) 2022 Pensando Psicología
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
As the author of the article, I declare that is an original unpublished work exclusively created by me, that it has not been submitted for simultaneous evaluation by another publication and that there is no impediment of any kind for concession of the rights provided for in this contract.
In this sense, I am committed to await the result of the evaluation by the journal Pensando Psicología before considering its submission to another medium; in case the response by that publication is positive, additionally, I am committed to respond for any action involving claims, plagiarism or any other kind of claim that could be made by third parties.
At the same time, as the author or co-author, I declare that I am completely in agreement with the conditions presented in this work and that I cede all patrimonial rights, in other words, regarding reproduction, public communication, distribution, dissemination, transformation, making it available and all forms of exploitation of the work using any medium or procedure, during the term of the legal protection of the work and in every country in the world, to the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia Press.
