Adolescence and young adulthood are periods that increase in violent behaviors. Perceived by the victims directly and those who witness the violence is important for the development personality, attitudes and behaviors. The aim of this study is to invesitigate the relationship between self-esteem characteristics of adolescents and exposure to physical violence in a semi-rural area. This is the cross-sectional survey was conducted in a semi rural area of Malatya. Hekimhan District Centre and randomly selected three town 410 adolescents were included in the study. The researc data was collected a survey and "Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale(RSS) developed by Çuhadar (1986) was applied under supervision. Unpaired t-test and regression analysis were used for data analysis. 60.2% male and 39.8% were female of 410 adolescents. 33.7% primary and 66.3% high school education of adolescents has been attending. From the adolescents 41.3% at home, 41.9% in school, 41.5% in the street, stated that they had experienced physical violence. Self-esteem scores of 58.3 % of male adolescents were in the range of 0-2 (high), of 35.2 % was in the range of 3-4 (moderately) and of 6.5 % in the range of 5-6 (low). Scores of 65.0 of female adolescents were in the range of 0-2, of 25,8 % was in 3-4 and of 9.2 % in 5-6 respectively. There was no statistical difference between self esteem scores of adolescents and gender (p>0.05). The low but there was a significant correlation between self-esteem of adolescents and exposure to physical violence at school (r = 0.13, p = 0.05).The standardized regression coefficient is interpreted, as a one-unit increase at the self-esteem score were lead to, an increase of 11.2 % the exposure to physical violence in school adolescents (F = 7.892, p = 0.005 In contrast, there was no a relationship between self-esteem levels of adolescents and exposure to physical violence at home (t=-.303; p=0.762). As conclussion; in this study was found a significant relationship between self-esteem levels and physical violence at school. The consciousness-raising programs for adolescents, parents and teachers are needed.
Key words: Adolescents, physical violence, self-esteem
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