title: Disclosure bias for group versus individual reporting of violence amongst conflict-affected adolescent girls in DRC and Ethiopia.
abstract: Methodologies to measure gender-based violence (GBV) have received inadequate attention, especially in humanitarian contexts where vulnerabilities to violence are exacerbated. This paper compares the results from individual audio computer-assisted self-administered (ACASI) survey interviews with results from participatory social mapping activities, employed with the same sample in two different post-conflict contexts. Eighty-seven internally displaced adolescent girls from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 78 Sudanese girls living in Ethiopian refugee camps were interviewed using the two methodologies. Results revealed that the group-based qualitative method elicited narratives of violence focusing on events perpetrated by strangers or members of the community more distantly connected to girls. In contrast, ACASI interviews revealed violence predominantly perpetrated by family members and intimate partners. These findings suggest that group-based methods of information gathering frequently used in the field may be more susceptible to socially accepted narratives. Specifically, our findings suggest group-based methods may produce results showing that sexual violence perpetrated by strangers (e.g., from armed groups in the conflict) is more prevalent than violence perpetrated by family and intimate partners. To the extent this finding is true, it may lead to a skewed perception that adolescent GBV involving strangers is a more pressing issue than intimate partner and family-based sexual violence, when in fact, both are of great concern.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2027-8862
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.affiliation: Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Marni
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.affiliation: Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Khudejha
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asghar
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Asham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Assazenew Baysa
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gizman
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Abdela
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.affiliation: International Rescue Committee, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Falb
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000068337:Armed Conflicts / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo / Q000453:epidemiology; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000066550:Physical Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012036:Refugees; D057566:Self Report; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013397:Sudan / Q000208:ethnology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult