Sexual Violence and Associated Factors among Female Youths in South Africa

Abstract

The study aims to investigate factors associated with sexual violence among South African female youths (18-24 years) in a cross-sectional household survey. The final sample included 974 sexually active females from four provinces (Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga). Of those, 7.3% reported to have had sex because someone used physical force to make them have sex with him/her. In the bivariate analysis, low self-esteem, lack of partner risk self-efficacy, having had sexually transmitted infections in a life-time, early sexual debut, not being employed and medium to high sexually permissive attitudes were associated with having experienced sexual violence. Programmes in combating sexual violence can utilize identified risk factors in interventions.

Key words: Sexual violence, risk factors, youth, household survey, South Africa