Some said it was acceptable to hit a woman

Advertising campaigns have been used before to highlight domestic violence and a televised campaign ran over Christmas and the New Year.

However, ministers are now turning to schools and youth groups to get the zero tolerance message across.

The theme of the campaign will be respect: respect yourselves; respect others and respect difference.

Classroom discussions will be backed up by a cd rom and website.

Billboards will be put up in schools and youth groups will reinforce the message that everyone deserves respect and no-one deserves to be abused or attacked.

Sharp increase

Ms Baillie said: "Young people should grow up to expect equality in relationships and regard abuse as unacceptable.

"We will learn lessons from this approach to prevention and, if successful, roll the programme out to schools across Scotland."

The chief constable of Scotland's largest police force last week said he was saddened by a sharp increase in domestic violence.

Strathclyde Chief Constable Sir John Orr said that, despite a powerful TV campaign, there was a 10% rise in domestic abuse over the festive period.

The victims were nearly all women, mostly between 26 and 45, with the youngest victim a 16-year-old girl, and the oldest being a 79-year-old woman.