The highest rates recorded were in South Africa where 25 per cent of participants reported witnessing their mothers being abused by their respective partners (ibid.). National surveys of violence against children conducted in Kenya,Tanzania, Swaziland and Zimbabwe indicate an association between exposure to sexual violence in childhood and adolescent participation in HIV risk behaviours (Richter et al., However, with the exception of South Africa's Birth to Twenty study, there are no longitudinal studies able to shed clear insights on processes involving parents and adolescents. Forty per cent of this study's sample had direct or vicarious experience of community or family violence, most of whom did not show signs of high-risk behaviour in early adolescence (Richter, 2006).Those who did, showed advanced pubertal development for their age and lived in environments where they were exposed to older adolescents, without monitoring and supervision by caring adults (ibid.).