ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:Intimate partner violence (IPV) among adolescents is common worldwide; but our understanding of perpetration; gender differences and the role of social-ecological factors remains limited.OBJECTIVES:To explore the prevalence of physical and sexual IPV perpetration and victimisation by gender; and associated risk and protective factors.METHODS:Young adolescents (N=2 839) from 41 randomly selected public high schools in the Western Cape region of South Africa (SA); participating in the PREPARE study; completed a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS:The participants' mean age was 13.65 years (standard deviation 1.01); with 19.1% (541/2 839) reporting being victims/survivors of IPV and 13.0% (370/2 839) reporting perpetrating IPV. Girls were less likely to report being a victim/survivor of physical IPV (odds ratio (OR) 0.72; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.57 - 0.92) and less likely to be a perpetrator of sexual IPV than boys (OR 0.33; 95% CI 0.21 - 0.52). Factors associated with perpetration of physical and sexual IPV were similar and included being a victim/survivor (physical IPV: OR 12.42; 95% CI 8.89 - 17.36; sexual IPV: OR 20.76; 95% CI 11.67 - 36.93); being older (physical IPV: OR 1.26; 95% CI 1.08 - 1.47; sexual IPV: OR 1.36; 95% CI 1.14 - 1.62 ); having lower scores on school connectedness (physical IPV: OR 0.59; 95% CI 0.46 - 0.75; sexual IPV: OR 0.56; 95% CI 0.42 - 0.76) and scoring lower on feelings of school safety (physical IPV: OR 0.66; 95% CI 0.57 - 0.77; sexual IPV: OR 0.50; 95% CI 0.40 - 0.62).CONCLUSIONS:Physical and sexual IPV was commonly reported among young adolescents in SA. Further qualitative exploration of the role of reciprocal violence by gender is needed; and the role of 'school climate'-related factors should be taken into account when developing preventive interventions