Attitude change approaches are common in the prevention of intimate partner violence
(IPV) among adolescents. This study examined associations between perpetration or victimization
and attitudes toward IPV with data from a longitudinal randomized controlled
trial (RCT) of an HIV prevention intervention among school students in three sites in South
Africa and Tanzania. Data analyses were confined to students from the control group only,
and to those with experience with romantic relationships. Boys and those more involved
with violence reported more violence-supportive attitudes. For Cape Town (and to some
extent Mankweng), the results of prospective prediction are consistent with the notion of
a bidirectional attitudes–behavior interrelationship. For Dar es Salaam attitudes predicted
behavior prospectively; however, prediction in the opposite direction was not confirmed.
These results indicate that attitude change strategies may be useful complementary to
structural approaches also in global South settings, although their effectiveness may vary.