Gender violence among youth: an effective program of preventive socialization to address a public health problem.

Department Of Sociology, University Of Barcelona, Spain ,Sandra Racionero-Plaza,Antonio Aguilera,Department Of Developmental And Educational Psychology, University Of Seville, Spain ,Mar Prados,Itxaso Tellado,Department Of Pedagogy, University Of Vic-Central University Of Catalonia, Spain

doi:10.3934/publichealth.2021005

Department Of Sociology, University Of Barcelona, Spain , Sandra Racionero-Plaza + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2021005

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Abstract

Gender violence among youth is a worldwide public health problem. Youth is increasingly exposed to violence in sexual-affective relationships, both stable and sporadic, and the age of victimization decreases. This adverse life experience affects many areas of youth's life, such as education, social relationships and, especially, their physical and mental health, with consequences that can be very harmful in the short and long-term. This situation has given rise to many anti-violence programs for adolescents and youth, yet as some worldwide prestigious organizations, like the American Psychological Association, have pointed out, many of those programs do not work. In this article, we present a program of preventive socialization of gender violence addressed to adolescents that has proven effectiveness. The program was composed of seven interventions based on the social impact of the evidence on preventive socialization of gender violence. It was applied at a group level in groups of 15–16 years old teenagers in three high schools in Barcelona. The interventions were conducted over a period of one school year and shared the trait of discussing research evidence on preventive socialization of gender violence with the youth through egalitarian dialogue. These interventions have proved to have a preventive effect of gender violence victimization on the participating teenagers by raising their critical consciousness regarding a coercive dominant discourse in society that associates attractiveness and violence, supporting the transformation of their memories of violent sexual-affective relationships, and providing them tools to better analyze their and their friends' sexual-affective relationships along the lines of identifying gender violence and being more prepared to help others in this regard. The manuscript describes every intervention applied.

Highlights

Affective and sexual violence is a significant public health problem affecting millions of individuals around the world [1]
We share the program of interventions given the efficacy that actions grounded in the scientific evidence from the research line on preventive socialization of gender violence have already demonstrated [33,34], including this program
We have shared a program of seven interventions framed by the research line of preventive socialization of gender violence that were applied as part of the MEMO4LOVE Project in Spain

Summary

Introduction

Affective and sexual violence is a significant public health problem affecting millions of individuals around the world [1]. The United Nations (UN) through its report “The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics” [2] shows that one in three women (35%) worldwide will experience physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner at some point in her life. Data from the latest report by the European Union in 2014, entitled “Gender-based violence against women: a European Union-wide survey” [3] showed that gender-based violence has a noteworthy prevalence, deeply affecting many women from the age of 15-year-old. 42,000 interviews were carried out with women from the 28 European member states, who were asked about their experiences of physical, sexual and psychological violence. 9,568 interviews were conducted with a representative sample of Spanish women, aged 16 years and over, who collected information on gender violence suffered at a physical, sexual, psychological control, psychological emotional and economic level. The consequences for the adolescent development of the experience of violent affective-sexual relationships are serious and multiple, affecting the victim and her family, her friends from the educational center, her community and society in general [5,6,7]

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