Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Soc Sci Med. 2021 Jun;278:113943. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113943. Epub 2021 Apr 17.
Interpersonal violence against children and youth, including parental violence and peer violence, are major global health concerns. However, the majority of the parental violence and peer violence literature examines each separately from one another. In this study, we specifically investigate the role of fathers and whether paternal violence victimization is associated with peer violence perpetration, above and beyond maternal violence victimization. We used nationally-representative data from three sub-Saharan African country surveys of the Violence Against Children Surveys, which comprised a pooled sample of 8184 youth aged 13-24 years in Malawi (conducted in 2013), Nigeria (2014), and Zambia (2014). We used multivariable logistic regression models to estimate the association between paternal violence victimization and peer violence perpetration, controlling for maternal violence victimization, witnessing violence, and other covariates. We also tested a structural equation model to determine whether the direct association between paternal violence victimization and peer violence perpetration was mediated through youth mental distress or alcohol use, controlling for other violence exposures and covariates. In the pooled sample, 22.8% of youth reported paternal violence victimization, and 18.8% of youth reported peer violence perpetration in their lifetime. Youth who experienced paternal violence had a greater odds of perpetrating peer violence (OR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.50-2.02), compared with youth who did not experience paternal violence and after controlling for maternal violence victimization and other covariates. Structural equation model results revealed that approximately a quarter of the total association between paternal violence victimization and peer violence perpetration was mediated by youth mental distress and alcohol use. Our study underscores the role of fathers in the context of parental violence against youth and highlights the need for multicomponent and two-generation violence prevention interventions that address paternal violence and support youth psychosocial wellbeing to prevent cycles of violence perpetration against youth in sub-Saharan Africa.
人际暴力侵害儿童和青少年，包括父母暴力和同伴暴力，是全球主要的健康问题。然而，大多数父母暴力和同伴暴力文献分别研究了彼此。在这项研究中，我们特别研究了父亲的角色，以及父亲的暴力受害是否与同伴暴力的实施有关，而不仅仅是母亲的暴力受害。我们使用了来自三个撒哈拉以南非洲国家的暴力侵害儿童调查的全国代表性数据，这些数据来自马拉维（2013 年进行）、尼日利亚（2014 年）和赞比亚（2014 年）的三个青少年年龄在 13-24 岁的 pooled 样本。我们使用多变量逻辑回归模型来估计父亲的暴力受害与同伴暴力的实施之间的关联，同时控制了母亲的暴力受害、目睹暴力和其他协变量。我们还测试了一个结构方程模型，以确定父亲的暴力受害与同伴暴力的实施之间的直接关联是否通过青少年的精神困扰或酒精使用来介导，同时控制了其他暴力暴露和协变量。在 pooled 样本中，22.8%的青少年报告了父亲的暴力受害，18.8%的青少年在其一生中实施了同伴暴力。与没有经历过父亲暴力的青少年相比，经历过父亲暴力的青少年更有可能实施同伴暴力（OR=1.74，95%CI：1.50-2.02），同时控制了母亲的暴力受害和其他协变量。结构方程模型的结果表明，父亲的暴力受害与同伴暴力的实施之间的总关联中，约有四分之一是通过青少年的精神困扰和酒精使用来介导的。我们的研究强调了父亲在针对青少年的父母暴力背景下的作用，并强调需要采取多组分和两代人预防暴力干预措施，解决父亲的暴力问题，支持青少年的心理社会福祉，以防止在撒哈拉以南非洲地区针对青少年的暴力循环。
