Associations between attitudes toward violence and intimate partner violence in South Africa and Tanzania

Attitude change approaches are common in the prevention of intimate partner violence (IPV) among adolescents. This study examined associations between perpetration or victimization and attitudes toward IPV with data from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an HIV prevention intervention among school students in three sites in South Africa and Tanzania. Data analyses were confined to students from the control group only, and to those with experience with romantic relationships. Boys and those more involved with violence reported more violence-supportive attitudes. For Cape Town (and to some extent Mankweng), the results of prospective prediction are consistent with the notion of a bidirectional attitudes-behavior interrelationship. For Dar es Salaam attitudes predicted behavior prospectively; however, prediction in the opposite direction was not confirmed. These results indicate that attitude change strategies may be useful complementary to structural approaches also in global South settings, although their effectiveness may vary.