Young People's Attitudes To Violence Against Women Report On Findings From The Young People In Scotland Survey 2014

Introduction

This report presents data from Ipsos MORI's Young People in Scotland Survey 2014 on the attitudes of young people (aged 11-18) to different forms of violence against women (domestic abuse, stalking and harassment, and commercial sexual exploitation). It also compares the attitudes of young people with those of adults aged 18+ who were surveyed as part of the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2014.

The Young People in Scotland survey was conducted in schools, selected to achieve a representative sample of 11-18 year-old pupils. The Scottish Social Attitudes survey was conducted in home with a probability sample of the adult population. The Young People in Scotland survey was self-completion, as was the section of the Scottish Social Attitudes survey that asked about violence against women. More details on these surveys and the methods used are provided in Annex A. Full tables for young people's responses to all questions covered in this report are shown in Annex B.

In June 2014, the Scottish Government and partners published Equally Safe Scotland's Strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls, which was updated in 2016. A key focus of this strategy is moving away from dealing with the negative consequences of violence against women and moving towards prevention.

An understanding of attitudes towards violence against women is important, as attitudes can influence the behaviour of people who might carry out such violence, and other people's responses to this violence. Shifts in attitude can be an indication of the success or otherwise of policies addressing violence against women.

Assessing the views of young people is particularly important in the context of early intervention and prevention, as adolescents are still forming their social and sexual identities. In addition there is evidence that young people are more vulnerable to experiencing violence from a partner than older age groups are.