Working Paper: NBER ID: w31624
Authors: Manisha Shah; Jennifer Seager; Joao Montalvao; Markus Goldstein
Abstract: Adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa have some of the highest rates of intimate partner violence across the globe. This paper evaluates the impact of a randomized controlled trial that offers females a goal setting activity to improve their sexual and reproductive health outcomes and offers their male partners a soccer intervention, which educates and inspires young men to make better sexual and reproductive health choices. Both interventions reduce female reports of intimate partner violence. Impacts are larger among females who were already sexually active at baseline. We develop a model to understand the mechanisms at play. The soccer intervention improves male attitudes around violence and risky sexual behaviors. Females in the goal setting arm take more control of their sexual and reproductive health by exiting violent relationships. Both of these mechanisms drive reductions in IPV.
Keywords: Intimate Partner Violence; Sexual Behaviors; Adolescents; Randomized Controlled Trial; Sub-Saharan Africa
JEL Codes: I12; O10
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| male soccer intervention (Z22) | improved attitudes towards violence (I24) |
| female goal-setting intervention (L21) | increased female agency in exiting violent relationships (J12) |
| improved attitudes towards violence (I24) | reduction in IPV (J12) |
| increased female agency in exiting violent relationships (J12) | reduction in IPV (J12) |
| male soccer intervention (Z22) | reduction in IPV (J12) |
| female goal-setting intervention (L21) | reduction in IPV (J12) |