Kleyn, Hewstone, Wölfer); University of Newcastle (
Hewstone); Deutsches Zentrum für Integrations - und Migrationsforschung (
Wölfer) Norms are shared attitudes and behaviors expressing beliefs about the appropriate conduct of individuals; they are strong guides for a range of social behaviors including parenting. Violence prevention is a public health priority in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Harnessing naturally occurring social influence processes may extend the reach of traditional parenting skills training programmes that are designed to prevent violence. This paper presents a social norms intervention implemented in a deprived community in South Africa to prevent harsh parenting attitudes and behaviours that negatively impact children s development. The researchers use social network analysis (SNA) to explore how the benefits from the intervention components diffuse through the community.