Intimate partner violence help-seeking norms: scale reliability and cross-sectional multilevel associations with intimate partner violence among youth in Nairobi, Kenya
Outcomes: Gender‑Based Violence
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways Social norms related to IPV help-seeking—particularly those governing whether it is acceptable for women to disclose violence or seek formal or informal support—operate at the community level and have a stronger influence on IPV risk than individual attitudes. The discussion highlights that norms discouraging help-seeking (e.g., beliefs that reporting violence brings shame or disloyalty) reinforce environments where IPV persists, while more enabling community norms among women can reduce IPV risk. Importantly, the findings emphasize that shifting collective expectations and community-level normative climates is critical for both increasing help-seeking and preventing violence, as individual attitudes alone are insufficient to drive change.
Objectives The study aimed to refine and validate an IPV Help-Seeking Attitudes Scale for youth in Nairobi, Kenya, examine gender differences in attitudes, and assess associations between individual attitudes and community-level norms with recent IPV experience among young women.
Methods A cross-sectional secondary analysis was conducted using phone-based survey data from 1,177 youth (586 men, 591 women aged 15–24) recruited through respondent-driven sampling in Nairobi. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify scale structure and assess reliability. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models examined associations between IPV experience and both individual-level attitudes and subcounty-level aggregated norms (by gender). Social norms were operationalized through aggregated attitudes reflecting community-level expectations regarding IPV justification, disclosure, and help-seeking.
Results The refined IPV Help-Seeking Attitudes Scale demonstrated acceptable reliability (Cronbach’s alpha ~0.71). IPV prevalence among partnered young women was 17.5%, yet only 21.7% sought help. Individual-level attitudes were not significantly associated with IPV experience. In contrast, community-level norms among young women were strongly associated: a one-unit increase in more enabling norms was linked to substantially lower odds of IPV (aOR=0.17). Community norms among young men were not significantly associated with women’s IPV experience. Additionally, young men generally held less supportive attitudes toward help-seeking than young women.
Conclusions The study concludes that IPV prevention and response efforts must prioritize shifting community-level norms that shape help-seeking and tolerance of violence. While improving services is important, creating supportive normative environments that encourage disclosure and response is essential for reducing IPV and improving access to care among youth.
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