Peer victimization and experiences of violence at school and at home among school age children with disabilities in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Figures & data

Figure 1. The Washington group on disability statistics questionnaire

Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of study participants

	Pakistan (N = 1516)		Afghanistan (N = 770)
	Mean/n	sd/%	Mean/n	sd/%
Gender (% girls)	835	55.1	420	54.5
Age group of learner (%)
≤12 yrs	928	61.2	47	6.1
13 yrs	314	20.7	149	19.4
14 yrs	150	9.9	256	33.2
≥15 yrs	124	8.2	318	41.3
Food secure (%)	1062	70.1	640	83.1
Family size
Average number in HH	9.8	5.6	9.2	3.0
Average number of brothers	2.4	1.5	3.4	1.6
Average number of sisters	2.4	1.7	3.3	1.7

Table 2. Prevalence of disability in the samples of students from Pakistan and Afghanistan

Type of disability	Pakistan (n = 1516)	Afghanistan (n = 770)
Speech	10 (0.7)	26 (3.4)
Vision	16 (1.1)	37 (4.8)
Hearing	10 (0.7)	19 (2.5)
Movement	24 (1.6)	13 (1.7)
Memory/concentration	53 (3.5)	79 (10.3)
Any disability	91 (6.0)	138 (17.9)

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of school characteristics (school performance and attendance), depression, violence experience or witnessing, disaggregated by disability status

	Pakistan		Afghanistan
	No disability (n = 1425)	Disability (n = 91)	No disability (n = 632)	Disability (n = 138)
Outcomes/factors	n or mean (%/sd)	n or mean (%/sd)	n or mean (%/sd)	n or mean (%/sd)
School factors
School performance score	9.5 (1.8)	8.9 (1.7)	4.9 (1.1)	4.1 (1.4)
Mean days school absence in last month	3.5 (3.5)	4.0 (4.1)	2.3 (2.2)	2.6 (2.6)
Mental health
Depression score	9.7(5.7)	13.0(7.4)	12.9 (6.8)	14.1 (5.8)
Experiencing/witnessing violence
Peer violence perpetration score	4.9(6.3)	7.9(8.9)	1.16 (2.7)	1.26 (2.7)
Peer violence victimization score	9.4(8.5)	12.0(8.6)	2.85 (4.6)	5.01 (6.3)
Both peer violence victimization and perpetration. §	698 (48)	57 (62.6)	312 (49.4)	87 (63)
Experienced corporal punishment at school. §	836 (58.7)	58 (63.7)	238 (37.7)	65 (47.1)
Experienced physical punishment at home. §	671 (47.1)	41 (45.1)	111(17.6)	31 (22.5)
Witnessed father fight with other men. §	298 (20.9)	29 (31.9)	62 (9.8)	17 (12.3)
Witnessed mother being beaten by father. §	101(7.1)	11(12.1)	19 (3)	8 (5.8)
Witnessed mother being beaten by other family member. §	58(4.1)	4(4.4)	12(1.9)	5 (3.6)
Household food security score (high = more insecure)	0.5(0.9)	1.1(1.4)	0.3(0.8)	0.6(1.5)

§Summary statistics represented by frequencies and percentages.

Table 4. General linear regression models: different outcomes with disability as one of the exposures

		Pakistan				Afghanistan
Outcomes	Model	EMD/OR	LCL	UCL	p-Value	EMD/OR	LCL	UCL	p-value
Depression score	1	3.8	2.6	5.0	<0.001	2.1	1.1	3.1	<0.001
	2	3.8	2.6	5.0	<0.001	2.2	1.2	3.1	<0.001
	3	2.3	1.2	3.4	<0.001	1.5	0.5	2.4	0.003
Corporal punishment at school§	1	1.2	0.7	2.2	0.487	1.5	0.9	2.5	0.149
	2	1.3	0.7	2.5	0.403	1.6	1.0	2.5	0.042
	3	0.8	0.5	1.4	0.461	1.3	0.7	2.4	0.481
Peer violence victimization score	1	2.6	0.9	4.3	0.003	2.1	1.3	3.0	<0.001
	2	2.6	0.9	4.3	0.002	2.2	1.3	3.0	<0.001
	3	1.4	−0.1	3.0	0.073	1.4	0.6	2.2	0.001
Peer violence perpetration score	1	2.7	1.5	4.0	<0.001	0.2	−0.3	0.7	0.524
	2	2.9	1.56	4.1	<0.001	0.2	−0.3	0.7	0.420
	3	2.0	0.84	3.2	0.001	−0.1	−0.6	0.4	0.801
School performance‡	1	−0.6	−0.9	−0.2	0.003	−1.2	−1.5	−0.9	<0.001
	2	−0.6	−0.9	−0.2	0.003	−1.2	−1.5	−0.9	<0.001
	3	−0.2	−0.6	0.1	0.207	−1.2	−1.5	−0.9	<0.001
Days of school missed‡	1	0.5	−0.2	1.3	0.157	0.4	−0.03	0.8	0.070
	2	0.5	−0.2	1.2	0.185	0.4	−0.01	0.8	0.058
	3	0.3	−0.4	1.0	0.418	0.4	−0.1	0.8	0.097

EMD: Estimated mean difference in scores between disabled and not disabled students.

Model 1: unadjusted. Model 2: adjusted for age and gender. Model 3: adjusted for age, gender and other factors.

§Dichotomous variable. ‡Model 3 adjusted for hunger score and depression.

Data availability statement

Data available at What Works Data repository and can be accessed at: http://medat.samrc.ac.za/index.php/catalog/WW