Objective  To explore the occurrence and risk factors of campus violence among children and adolescents of Chinese minorities with less population and to provide evidences for formulating strategies of intervention and relevant health policies on campus violence among the children and adolescents.

  Methods  Using random cluster sampling, we selected 2 626 primary and high school students of 7 minorities with a total population size of less than 0.12 million in 3 minority autonomous prefectures of Yunnan province; then we conducted a survey on the prevalence and influencing factors of campus violence among the students with a self-designed questionnaire in 2016.

  Results  The age of the surveyed students ranged 9 – 16 years, with a mean age of 12.35±1.79 years. The self-reported rate of campus violence victimization during previous 30 days was 73.19% among all the students; the rate was 75.91% and 70.65% among the male and female students and the rate was 72.47% and 73.98% among the students aged 9 – 12 and 13 – 16 years. The rates of campus violence victimization during previous 30 days reported by students of different minorities were as following: 81.65% for Dulong, 71.70% for De'ang, 79.06% for Bulang, 67.16% for Achang, 56.93% for Pumi, 92.24% for Nu, and 59.59% for Jinuo students, respectively. The results of multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that significant independent protective factors of campus violence victimization included being non-left behind children (odds ratio OR = 1.24, 95% confidence interval 95% CI: 1.00 – 1.54) and being non-resident student (OR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.02 – 1.73) (both P <0.01); the significant independent influencing factors included nationality (P <0.001), having the history of self-injury during past 12 months (OR = 1.96, 95% CI :1.45 – 2.64), male gender (OR = 1.21, 95% CI :1.00 – 1.48), with a mother engaged in a non-agricultural work (OR = 1.84, 95% CI :1.38 – 2.45), with low maternal of education (OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.41 – 0.94 for junior high school and OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.59 – 1.44 for primary school), with self-perceived loneliness (OR = 1.27, 95% CI: 0.82 – 1.95 for occasionally and OR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.26 – 3.11 for frequently), with self-perceived unhappiness due to study stress or academy achievement (OR = 1.27, 95% CI: 0.90 – 1.80 for occasionally and OR = 2.23, 95% CI:1.51 – 3.27 for frequently), having a fight with others several times during pervious 12 months (P<0.05), and with frequent insomnia due to anxiety (P<0.10). The top three kinds of campus violence victimization reported by the students were being teased maliciously (55.79%), being threatened (32.75%), being assaulted erotically (30.62%).

  Conclusion  The occurrence rate of campus violence victimization is relatively high among children and adolescents of minorities with less population in Yunnan province of China and the situation needs to be intervened comprehensively by government agencies and relevant organizations.