Contexts of Violence in Adolescence Cohort Study (CoVAC)

More than one in three adult women globally have experienced physical or sexual violence by their intimate partner. We know that risk of intimate partner violence in adulthood for both women and men is linked to childhood and adolescent experiences of violence. However, less is known about why this is, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Most research on why comes from North America and Europe, where the basic patterns of childhood and adolescent violence exposure are different to many low and middle income country settings, including Uganda. It is important to study why violence in childhood and adolescence and intimate partner violence in adulthood violence are linked so that we can figure out how to more effectively prevent violence across these time periods. Our study has three goals. The first is to get a better understanding of the patterns of prior violence exposure among young adolescents in Uganda, a low-income country setting. The second goal is to understand in more detail which types of violence exposure in early adolescence are associated with violence in later adolescence and young adulthood. The third is to explore how and why these associations occur, with a view to understanding how both characteristics of the individual, and characteristics of the contexts in which individuals find themselves, might amplify or interrupt these associations. In order to do this, we are intending to follow 3438 young adolescents over time. We plan to use a mixture of both survey methods with more in-depth interviews and observations to understand participants' views and practices in relation to violence and experiences of growing up in Uganda. We have already done one survey with young adolescents, their teachers and some of their caregivers in 2014, when the adolescents were aged 11-14 years. We will do a second survey in 2018, when the adolescents are aged 15-18 years, and a third survey in 2021 when they are 18-21 years. In our survey, we ask detailed questions about the use and experience of different forms of violence, the mental health of our participants, and about participants' relationships with different types of people, including romantic relationships. We will gather extensive data on participants' family, school, and other contexts where they spend time, and will analyse how these contexts can support the development of non-violent behaviour and relationships over time. Our qualitative study will involve in-depth work with a sub-sample of about 36 girls and boys, who reported varying experiences of violence in the 2014 survey, when they were 11-14 years, and who will also be followed up over time from 2018 until 2021. We will speak with these core participants individually, and with groups of friends, and conduct observations in and around the schools and communities where participants find themselves. Through building detailed biographical case studies with these young people, we hope to gain insight into how adolescents experience different forms of violence, and the ways in which their social relationships and networks influence their safety and perspectives and practices on violence. As well as working with this core group, we will collect data from a broader sample of young people, school staff, parents, community members and officials, as well as the broader political and socio-economic landscape, in order to analyse the ways in which the contexts in which young people live enhance risks or help protect young people from violence. This research will improve understanding of what types of mechanisms we can target to help effectively prevent violence across adolescence and into adulthood. Our findings will be new and interesting because very few longitudinal studies have been conducted across this age group, and even fewer in low income country settings. We plan to use these results directly to develop programming in Uganda.