U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Intimate Partner Violence: Prevalence and Risk Factors for Men in Cape Town, South Africa

NCJ Number
213906
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 21 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2006 Pages: 247-264
Author(s)
Naeemah Abrahams Ph.D.; Rachel Jewkes M.D.; Ria Laubscher BCom; Margaret Hoffman BSC
Date Published
April 2006
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study explored the prevalence and risk factors for the male perpetration of intimate partner violence against women in Cape Town, South Africa.
Abstract
The findings suggest that attitudes supportive of gender inequality and the use of violence in various settings are major mechanisms underlying men’s use of violence against their female partners. Among the sample of men working in Cape Town municipalities, 42.3 percent reported using physical violence against a partner during the past 10 years and 8.8 percent reported using physical violence during the past year. Factors associated with the use of past 10 year physical violence against a partner were having no post-school training, witnessing parental violence during childhood, involvement in fights at work and in communities, drug use, problem alcohol use, perceiving violence against women as acceptable, frequent conflict, women’s alcohol use, conflict about sex, and conflict about husband’s infidelity. Participants were 1,368 randomly sampled men who were employed by 3 municipalities in Cape Town, South Africa. Data were collected via face-to-face structured interviews that focused on sociodemographic information, aspects of childhood and family life, family and community violence, criminal history, and drug abuse. Data analysis included a backward stepwise elimination regression model. Future research should continue to focus on men’s use of violence in order to inform effective prevention strategies. Tables, figure, references