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Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique logoLink to Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique
. 2003 May 1;94(3):212–217. doi: 10.1007/BF03405069

Secular Trends in Self-reported Violent Activity Among Ontario Students, 1983–2001

Angela Paglia 112,✉, Edward M Adlaf 112,212
PMCID: PMC6979896  PMID: 12790497

Abstract

Introduction: This paper examines secular trends in violence among Ontario students between 1983 and 2001, and variation by sex.

Methods: Using data from the Ontario Student Drug Use Survey, we examined self-reports of assault, weapon carrying, and gang fighting based on 10 cross-sectional surveys from 1983 to 2001. Respondents were derived from representative samples of Ontario students in grades 7, 9, 11, and 13 (OAC) who completed in-class anonymous self-administered surveys. Data were weighted to account for the complex survey design and analyzed using logit trend analyses.

Results: Short-term trends (1991–2001) showed assault, weapon carrying, and gang fighting have been on downward trajectories since the mid-1990s, reaching the lowest prevalence in 2001 among males and females. Long-term trends (1983–2001) among 11th-graders showed assault increased between 1985 and 1999, but declined in 2001. Gang fighting among males increased during the late 1980s and again during the mid-1990s, but declined between 1997 and 2001. Gang fighting among females remained at a stable, low level.

Discussion: Future monitoring is necessary to understand whether the decline in self-reported violent behaviour among adolescents is robust.

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