Dealing with Hazing : are there different profiles of higher education students?

Abstract

This study aims to understand the kind of relationship that students from two Portuguese higher education institutions – the Portalegre School of Health Sciences (ESSP) and the University of the Azores (UAC) – have with hazing and whether there are profiles of students associated with different types of relationship with hazing. Data were collected through the scale ‘Evaluation of Bullying Situations in Higher Education Hazing’. The findings obtained using appropriate statistical techniques, exhibit significant differences between the ESSP and the UAC, with students from the ESSP displaying a better relationship with hazing. They also showcase appreciable differences in the relationship with hazing between the ESSP and the UAC depending on personal, academic and behavioral variables. The findings finally indicate that, at each institution, the profile of students who express a better relationship with hazing differs from those who distance themselves from this ritual in terms of personal, academic and behavioral variables.