School violence as a predictor of attendance, grade repetition, and dropout among Tunisian adolescents: evidence from a nationally representative study

Abstract Violence against children, whether by peers, teachers, or within the home, has consistently been linked to poor educational outcomes, including dropout, deliberate absenteeism, tardiness, and grade repetition. Although research often focuses on bullying, violence perpetrated by school staff remains an underexamined global issue with long-term effects on academic engagement and wellbeing. This study uses nationally representative data from 2,820 Tunisian secondary students and a subsample of school dropouts to examine how school violence, home violence, school climate, and parental support predict key educational outcomes. Logistic and ordered logistic regressions showed that physical violence by school staff was associated with doubled odds of dropout (OR = 2.07, p < .05) and was positively associated with dropout risk among in-school students, deliberate absenteeism, and tardiness. Parental support and positive school climate were associated with protective findings in nearly all models, whereas verbal violence and peer victimization predicted absenteeism and tardiness. Findings highlight the central role of teacher–student interactions and parental involvement in school retention efforts. Implications for national policy and school-based prevention are discussed.