Exploring contextual factors associated with adolescent sexual violence in Tasikmalaya Regency, Indonesia: a qualitative study informing an ecological empowerment framework

Sexual violence against adolescents is a public-health, human-rights, and child-protection concern. This study explored how adolescents and adult stakeholders perceived contextual factors associated with adolescent sexual violence in Tasikmalaya Regency, West Java, Indonesia, and used the findings to inform a provisional ecological empowerment framework. A constructivist qualitative design was used. Thirteen semi-structured individual interviews and two separate focus group discussions were conducted with 26 participants from student, parent, school, health, education, social-service, and child-protection groups. Thematic analysis using NVivo generated 478 coding references across six interconnected themes: family and parent-adolescent communication; peer influence, dating, and close social relations; education and sexual violence prevention; digital-related sexual violence; individual vulnerability and adolescent development; and socio-cultural and institutional factors. Participants most often described family communication and peer or dating contexts, while also identifying digital exposure, barriers to help-seeking, weak reporting systems, and cultural stigma. The findings support a context-specific framework linking adolescent capacity-building with protective peer systems, family strengthening, school and institutional safeguards, and community and cross-sector collaboration. The framework is empirically informed but requires co-design, validation, and prospective evaluation before its effectiveness can be established.