Boys more prone to violence

Cape Town - School-going children as young as 13 are committing physical and sexual intimate partner violence, with boys more likely to be perpetrators and victims of violent behaviour than girls a new study has revealed.

The study by different research institutions, including the University of York and UCT among others, revealed that about 10 percent of teenagers interviewed reported committing physical violence and 6 percent committed sexual violence in their intimate relationships in the previous six months.

Research among adolescents from more than 40 public schools in the Western Cape explored the prevalence of physical and sexual violence perpetration and victimisation by gender to determine whether there was an association between the two, and examined the risk and protective factors involved. More than 6 000 Grade 8 pupils at an average of 13 years were invited to participate in the 2013 study.

The prevalence of physical and sexual intimate partner violence perpetration and victimisation was higher among boys than girls – with at least 21 percent of boys reporting being victims of sexual violence than 12.4 percent of girls. Significantly, more boys were victims of sexual intimate partner violence at 11 percent, compared to almost 5 percent of girls.

Compared with non-perpetrators of physical violence, male perpetrators were older– more than 14 years, and there was a significant difference in ethnicity, with “whites” more affected at 10.3 percent versus the 5.3 percent of “blacks”. Male perpetration of physical and sexual violence was associated with being a victim of physical or sexual intimate partner violence, higher age, negative feelings of school, including school safety. Female perpetration of both physical and sexual violence was associated with being a victim of violence, lower scores at school and higher age.

Writing in the SA Medical Journal, lead researcher Amanda Mason-Jones, said the study had some limitations as researchers were dependent on self reports, and participants might have masked perpetration or victimisation. Despite this, Mason Jones said the study presented a “clear exploration” of both perpetration and victimisation of physical and sexual intimate partner violence. “Our findings underlined the very high prevalence of reciprocal intimate partner violence among boys and girls and the urgent need to investigate this issue in order to develop appropriate interventions to prevent long-term adverse health impact,” she said.