Sexual violence and youth in South Africa: the need for community-based prevention interventions
SOURCE: Child Abuse & Neglect
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2005
TITLE AUTHOR(S): I.Petersen, A.Bhana, M.McKay
KEYWORDS: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR, VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR, YOUTH
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 4135
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/6507
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/6507
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2005
TITLE AUTHOR(S): I.Petersen, A.Bhana, M.McKay
KEYWORDS: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR, VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR, YOUTH
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 4135
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/6507
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/6507
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
South Africa is reported to have one of the highest rates of sexual violence in the world, with adolescent girls between the ages of 12 and 17 being particularly at risk. Given that adolescence is considered a critical developmental period for establishing normative sexual behavior, this study explored multiple levels of risk influences that render adolescent girls vulnerable to becoming victims of sexual violence and adolescent boys vulnerable to becoming perpetrators of such abuse in one South African community. A case study approach using qualitative rapid focused ethnographic methods was used. This involved 10 focus group interviews and 10 individual interviews with a volunteer convenience sample of adolescent boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 16 years. Inductive thematic analysis revealed that there were indeed multiple levels of risk influences for adolescent girls and boys becoming either victims or perpetrators of sexual violence. Using the Theory of Triadic Influence as a framework, influences at the distal socio-cultural/environmental level included traditional notions of masculinity and normalization of inter-personal violence as well as poverty and the commodification of sex leading to rape supportive attitudes. Influences at the proximal situation context/social normative level included high-risk social norms as well as a weak adult and community protective shield. Finally, influences at the intra-personal level included low self-esteem and self-efficacy as well as inter-personal affective anger.-
Related Research Outputs:
- Sources of aggressive behaviour in children. A brief outline with pointers for intervention
- Research on TV violence and sex in SABC programmes
- Youth pathways to violence and antisocial behaviour
- Evaluation of HIV/AIDS prevention intervention messages on a rural sample of South African youth's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours over a period of 15 months
- Sexuality of black South African university students in the context of HIV/AIDS
- Sexuality of 16- to 17- year-old South Africans in the contexts of HIV/AIDS
- Program for abstinence, faithfulness and the reduction of harmful sexual behaviors for youth and other groups (ABY) in South Africa: results of a baseline evaluation
- Rapid appraisal of substance abuse and HIV awareness messages in poster communication to disadvantaged youth in South Africa
- Building protective factors to offset sexually risky behaviors among black South African youth: a randomized control trial
- Young people's violent behaviour: social learning in context
- Youth voices about sex and AIDS: implications for life skills education through the 'Learning Together' project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- On working with a single photograph
- South African national HIV prevalence, incidence, behaviour and communication survey, 2008: a turning tide among teenagers?
- Building protective factors to offset sexually risky behaviors among black youths: a randomized control trial
- Intergenerational/age-disparate sex and young women's vulnerability in southern Africa
- Age-disparate and intergenerational sex in southern Africa: the dynamics of hypervulnerability
- South African national HIV prevalence, incidence, behaviour and communication survey, 2008: a turning tide among teenagers?
- South African national HIV prevalence, incidence, behaviour and communication survey, 2008: a turning tide among teenagers?
- South African national HIV prevalence, incidence, behaviour and communication survey, 2008: a turning tide among teenagers?
- Behaviour changes in sexual behavioural practices among South African youth