Workplace violence against youth: results from a national telephone survey.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Branch C ; Casteel C ; Myers D ; Peek-Asa C ; Rauscher K
• Description:
  Background: Surveillance data show that workers under the age of 25 have an increased risk of workplace violence compared to all workers combined. Given their predominant employment in the high-risk retail and service industries, the lack of violence prevention programs in these industries, and the fact that youth may be uniquely affected by workplace violence due to their ongoing physical and psychological development, young workers are a vulnerable population at risk. Despite these facts, young workers have received little research attention when it comes to workplace violence. Objectives: The main objective of the present study is to improve our understanding of young workers' experiences with workplace violence. Key outcomes investigated are as follows: 12-month victimization prevalence; the forms of violence (e.g., assault, verbal abuse) experienced in the past year; the perpetrator of these incidents, and injury-related outcomes. Methods: Using preliminary data (n=512) from a national telephone survey targeted at 1000 young workers ages 14 to 24 across the United States, we calculated descriptive statistics to determine the following: 12-month victimization prevalence and the distribution of the forms of violence experience in the past year. These include: verbal abuse; threats; sexual harassment; sexual assault; and other physical assault. We also surveyed respondents about their most recent experience with being victimized in the last year to investigate, among other outcomes, the distribution of perpetrators and the frequency with which these events resulted in an injury. Results: Preliminary findings show the twelve-month workplace violence victimization prevalence was 59% (n=302). Verbal abuse (52%) was the most common form of violence experienced by youth; followed by sexual harassment (22%); threats (16%); physical attacks (7%) and sexual assault (5%) (categories are not mutually exclusive). Social media was used in 21% of the incidents involving sexual harassment and in 11% of those involving threats made against young workers in the previous year. When asked to report on the most recent incident they experienced, 4% of victims reported having been injured. Among these most recent incidents of workplace violence, perpetrators included customers/ clients (54%), co-workers (35%), supervisors (18%), and romantic partners (2%) (categories are not mutually exclusive). In cases where supervisors or co-workers were the perpetrators, respondents were mostly likely to report they were victims of verbal abuse (64% and 43%, respectively) and sexual harassment (22% and 42%, respectively). Data collection is expected to be completed this summer. Discussion: This first of its kind national study of workplace violence among youth demonstrates the problem of violence at work is much wider spread among youth than national surveillance data indicate. Given that only 4% of victims reported they were injured; this suggests that as many as 96% (assuming no non-reporting) of young victims of workplace violence could go undetected in occupational surveillance systems. This indicates that to adequately grasp the extent and nature of workplace violence among young workers, alternative methods are needed. The role of supervisors, who should be protecting young workers, warrants further examination given that they were responsible for nearly 1 in 5 incidents of workplace violence. Attention to the use of social media in the perpetration of sexual harassment and threats against young people should also be explored further.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Endocrine System Occupational Health Preceptorship Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Abuse Adolescents Assaults Bullying Mental Health Psychological Effects Social Media Teenagers Violence Prevention Workplace Violence Young Workers

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• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 7 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  98-99
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20063742
• Citation:
  National Occupational Injury Research Symposium 2018, (NOIRS 2018), October 16-18, 2018, Morgantown, West Virginia. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2018 Oct; :98-99
• Contact Point Address:
  Kimberly Rauscher, ScD, MA, Associate Professor, West Virginia University, PO Box 9190, Morgantown, WV 26506
• Email:
  KRauscher@hsc.wvu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  West Virginia University
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20150930
• Source Full Name:
  National Occupational Injury Research Symposium 2018, (NOIRS 2018), October 16-18, 2018, Morgantown, West Virginia
• End Date:
  20180929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:df142d27bbc8585e398c6a70f135e55766c69e5556e2b5e1e0ced51a049e292021b5ae5b0d7277906c76fd4156219ef2c22bc9835a7170b958993327fb5ee8dc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181926/cdc_181926_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 42.75 KB ]