Examining Trajectories of Peer Violence Experiences and Their Association with Gender Norms and Agency Among Adolescents: Evidence from China, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia.

This article examines longitudinal trajectories of peer violence among urban poor adolescents aged 10 to 17 in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), Shanghai (China), and three Indonesian cities, focusing on how gender norm perceptions and personal agency relate to these experiences. Using repeated measure latent class analysis on data from 6,660 participants across three waves, five distinct peer violence classes were identified, including low violence, declining violence, peaks in middle adolescence, consistently high violence, and site-specific classes such as increasing violence (Indonesia and DRC) and high emotional victimization (Shanghai). The study found that more traditional (unequal) gender norms—particularly sexual double standards—and higher levels of agency were generally associated with increased risk of peer violence victimization and/or perpetration, though these associations varied by site and type of agency measured. The findings highlight the importance of addressing underlying gender beliefs and social-structural determinants in interventions, emphasizing the need for multi-level, context-specific programs to prevent and mitigate peer violence among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries.