“I Stopped to Prove them Wrong:” Reasons for Discontinuing Daily Oral HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among Women at High Risk of HIV in Tanzania-A Convergent Mixed Methods Study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms and social pressure were important drivers of discontinuing daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis among female sex workers. Women described a common community belief that people taking pills resembling antiretroviral treatment are living with HIV, leading to stigma, rumors, negative reactions, and pressure from partners, family, friends, peers, and clients to […]
Increasing young people’s use of sexual and reproductive health services in government health facilities in rural Kenya.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms and provider attitudes can create important psychosocial barriers to young people’s use of sexual and reproductive health services. Fear of judgment, shaming, parental disapproval, and loss of confidentiality may particularly discourage younger adolescents and girls. The findings suggest these barriers can be reduced by fostering more supportive provider attitudes […]
Attitude towards gender roles and violence against women and girls (VAWG): baseline findings from an RCT of 1752 youths in Pakistan.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study shows that patriarchal gender attitudes among Pakistani adolescents are shaped by social norms within peer groups, families, and schools. Peer violence, corporal punishment, child marriage expectations, and exposure to violence at home serve as indicators of gender norms that reinforce inequality. The authors argue that because peer norms are […]
Evaluation of RISE II Integrated Social and Behavior Change Activities in Niger: Baseline Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This baseline study highlights the pervasiveness of social norms that reinforce early and forced marriage, gender-based violence (GBV), and limited reproductive autonomy among adolescent girls in Niger. Norms around family honor, male decision-making authority, and expectations for girls to marry and bear children early are deeply entrenched. The study underscores that […]
Tipping Point Project: Report of the baseline study findings from Bangladesh
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This baseline study explicitly measures and analyzes both injunctive and descriptive norms across domains related to adolescent girls’ mobility, marriage, education, and decision-making in rural Bangladesh. The study defines and operationalizes social norms using structured survey items, capturing what respondents believe others expect of them (injunctive norms) and what they believe […]
Impact of Tipping Point Initiative, a social norms intervention, in addressing child marriage and other adolescent health and behavioral outcomes in a northern district of Bangladesh
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This impact evaluation explicitly examines how CARE’s Tipping Point program influenced injunctive and descriptive norms related to gender, marriage, and adolescent girls’ rights in rural Bangladesh. The study used a dedicated norms module to assess what adolescents and adults perceive others expect of them (injunctive norms) and what they believe others […]
The Cultural Context of Child Marriage in Nepal and Bangladesh: Findings from CARE’s Tipping Point Project Community Participatory Analysis
Key Social Norms Take-aways: CARE’s Tipping Point project reveals that deeply entrenched social norms—particularly those around female obedience, sexual purity, family honor, and the marriageability of girls—are among the most powerful forces driving child marriage in Bangladesh and Nepal. Parents often privately support delaying marriage but conform to perceived community expectations due to fear of […]
Qualitative endline results of the tipping point project to prevent child, early and forced marriage in Nepal
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Organized diffusion is essential for shifting social norms around intimate partner violence (IPV). This study demonstrates that interpersonal diffusion of anti-violence messaging can lead to meaningful change, particularly in communities with less equitable baseline norms. Social networks play a central role in facilitating this change, highlighting the importance of targeting interventions […]
Findings of an evaluation of community and school-based reproductive health and HIV prevention programs in Kenya
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study provides strong evidence that addressing perceived social expectations can reduce the acceptability and prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). While the intervention did not explicitly state they were measuring injunctive norms, the survey included items on perceived community approval, religious endorsement, and social pressure—core elements of injunctive norms. The […]
Effects of a violence prevention intervention in schools and surrounding communities: Secondary analysis of a cluster randomized-controlled trial in Uganda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Good School Toolkit intervention effectively shifted social norms surrounding physical discipline both in schools and in surrounding communities. The study found strong reductions in caregivers’ acceptance of physical violence at school and at home, indicating that school-based interventions can catalyze wider normative change. However, changes in actual violence practices at […]