Male youth leaders’ perceptions and experiences of young men’s constructions of domestic violence against women and its prevention

South Africa is faced with many social problems; amongst them is domestic violence, a dilemma which is experienced by almost all racial groups. There is a widespread belief that social learning and patriarchy perpetuate this dilemma, as is evident in theories. Many studies on domestic violence have focused on the experiences of women and there is a gap on how men view it against women. Research had to be conducted on young men’s views on this issue. The researcher in this study sought to explore the male youth leaders’ perceptions of domestic violence against women and its prevention. The study utilised generic qualitative methods based on the explorative, descriptive and contextual design to gather information. In-depth interviews were conducted with each participant. The study employed semi-structured interviews using snowball sampling. A sample of male youth leaders in Port Elizabeth participated in the interviews of the study. Data was verified using member checking, peer debriefing, clarifying bias by the researcher, and dense description of the application of the selected methods used in the research. The major findings of this study include men as main perpetrators of violence, patriarchy as a cause of domestic violence, men not knowing and not involved into prevention programmes for domestic violence. The findings will contribute into the prevention of domestic violence