Violence and Non-fatal Injuries among Vietnamese In-school Adolescents: National Prevalence Estimates and Associated Factors

Background School violence and injury are major public health problems worldwide; however, current information on these issues in Vietnam is lacking. We aim to investigate the prevalence of violence and non-fatal injury and associated factors among Vietnamese adolescents aged 13-17 years old. Methods We used data from the 2019 Vietnam Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS), which is a nationally representative survey developed by the World Health Organization to monitor behavioral risk factors among school-aged students. The Vietnam GSHS 2019 was conducted in 20 provinces and cities, with a sample size of 7,690 male and female students aged 13-17 years old. Results We found the prevalence of violence and non-fatal injury was 14.5% and 21.4%, respectively. Common risk factors for both violence and non-fatal injuries included cigarette smoking, alcohol use, mental health problems, and living with neither parent; violence was also a risk factor for non-fatal injuries. Student older age was associated with lower odds of school violence. Parents played an important role in preventing violence among female students and non-fatal injuries in both genders. Conclusions Future policies should consider individual factors as well as adolescent-parent bonding, to mitigate the burden of violence and injury among in-school adolescents in Vietnam. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The 2019 Global School-based Student Health Survey was conducted with financial support from the World Health Organization. The authors received no funding for the data analysis, data interpretation, manuscript writing, authorship, and/or publication of this article. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institution Review Board of Hanoi University of Public Health (IRB No. 421/2019/YTCC-HD3, dated: 06/08/2019) All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes The datasets, codebook used in the current study are not publicly available but are available upon reasonable request