Caracterización de la población adolescente de instituciones educativas de la región oeste de Montevideo-Uruguay en relación a la situación de violencia en que viven [Violence among young students in a poor region]

Every day in the pages of national newspapers and television news, we may read and hear about acts of violence that are based upon children and adolescents as victims or as perpetrators. While Press coverage on social issues is extensive, daily events are not fully reflected in the media. Society perceives and experiences a surge in violence by youth and adolescents, which clearly reflect a serious social disease that as citizens we try to eradicate. The costs generated by this scourge that is embedded in our communities is incalculable. We must encourage the prevention of violence by strengthening the family as basic unit of society, promoting education and work as a form of restore the social fabric. This is a commitment of all and the only way to address this serious social disease. Concern about the issue, leading the authors to carry out this work, initially targeted to meet the reality of the adolescent population and high school students in the west area of Montevideo in relation to their life situation and violence.