Title:

Gender Based Violence among Adolescents in Rural Colombia: A Social Network Analysis 

Abstract: 

Adolescents represent one quarter of the world’s population. Their well-being is clearly an important global health and human rights concern (Dick & Ferguson, 2015; Gilbert et al., 2015; Patton et al., 2014). Their current physical and mental challenges are setting the foundation for adult populations’ outcomes in the coming decades (Kleinert, & Horton, 2016; Sawyer, Afifi, Bearinger, et al, 2012). Researchers have identified the some risk related health behaviors as important to examine in adolescents: violence (including gender based violence GBV), sexual health and substance use. The aim of this study is to address the interplay between adolescent’s social networks and GBV using a multi-layer social network perspective including school-based, adverse and community relationships. This socio-metric analysis collected data from 246 adolescents ages of 13-17 attending high-school. The study provided multiple types of conclusions about the various ways GBV are normalized/ rejected, and addressed within this adolescent population. Findings show that the risk of being a victim or perpetrator of GBV appears to be correlated to their structural position in the multiplex social network. Future research and clinical recommendations are provided with information about points of intervention from a culturally syntonic position.