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Affiliation
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Mengmeng Li, Omrana Pasha, and Robert Blum are with the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Krishna Rao is with the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Kayhan Natiq is with the Silk Route Training and Research Organization, Kabul, Afghanistan. |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVES: To understand Afghan adolescents' and parents' attitudes toward interpersonal violence.
METHODS: We used a 2-stage sampling method in 6 provinces during 2016; we included 916 adolescents aged 12 to 15 years and 454 parents.
RESULTS: In the abstract, a minority of adolescents or parents endorsed violence; however, specific situations justified most violence (e.g., husbands beating wives, parents hitting children). Both adolescents (48.0%) and parents (39.0%) thought a wife hitting her husband was least justifiable. Endorsement of violence justification did not appear to vary significantly on the basis of parental education or wealth. More fathers rejected all violence rationale than did mothers, and women were more likely to justify wife beating (75.0% vs 58.6%; P < .01), beating of daughters (78.5% vs 60.6%; P < .01), and teachers hitting students (62.9% vs 51.5%; P < .01). Of all respondents, 25% approved of threatening a child if he or she speaks out against harmful traditional practices.
CONCLUSIONS: Although it may be socially unacceptable to advocate physical aggression, most Afghans still find numerous conditions that justify it. Without deliberate violence reduction strategies, education alone is unlikely to reduce the high levels of interpersonal violence in Afghanistan. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print October 25, 2018: e1-e7. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304697).
Language: en |