Italy Study Finds Over 43% of Teens Involved in Physical Violence in 2025

The 2025 ESPAD® Italy survey, released by the CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, indicates that 43.4% of students aged 15‑19 (more than one million youths) reported taking part in or being victims of at least one violent act. A gender gap is evident: 49.8% of boys and 37.2% of girls reported violence, and 14.2% (over 350,000) experienced two or more types.

The most common behaviour is participation in fights (38.3% overall, 43.9% of boys, 33.1% of girls), followed by group fights (11.9%), property damage (5.9%) and injuries requiring medical care (5.0%). Severe indicators have tripled since 2018, with students reporting hitting teachers rising from 1.2% to 3.6% and threats with a weapon increasing from 1.4% to 3.5%.

A record 332,000 students (11.8% as observers, 3.8% as recorders) reported seeing or filming violent incidents on smartphones, the highest level ever recorded. Offline violence remains more prevalent than cyber‑bullying (43.4% vs 29.9%). The findings are based on more than 17,000 questionnaires collected nationwide.