Spousal intimate partner violence is associated with HIV and Other STIs among married Rwandan women

Is Young Maternal Age a Risk Factor for Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Anaemia in India? An Examination in Urban and Rural Areas

The present research work aims to study the effect of young maternal age on the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and anaemia using National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) data for India. Analysis has been done for currently married women in the reproductive age group and who had their first birth in the age group 29 or below. Data have been analysed for urban and rural areas separately. The bivariate analysis showed that per cent of women who had their first birth during adolescence is higher in rural areas than urban areas. Further, women who had their first birth during adolescence reported a higher prevalence of STDs and anaemia than women who had their first birth at later ages in both settings. Logistic regression analysis has been used to examine the net influence of maternal age on the prevalence of anaemia and STDs. The multivariate findings revealed that the likelihood of prevalence of STDs and anaemia (urban areas) was higher among adolescent women than among adult women.

Spousal violence and paternal disinvestment among Tsimane' forager-horticulturalists

OBJECTIVES

We develop and test a conceptual model of factors influencing the likelihood of physical wife abuse. The paternal disinvestment model emphasizes that spousal conflict over resource use results from men's attempts to increase individual fitness at a cost to the family (e.g., through pursuit of extramarital affairs). We propose that men use violence to control women's responses to the diversion of resources away from the family: to quell women's objections to male disinvestment, maintain women's parental investment, and to dissuade women from pursuing relationships with other men.

METHODS

Interviews were conducted among men and women to determine rates of violence and demographic and behavioral covariates. Structural equation modeling and generalized estimating equations analyses were used to test predictions derived from the model. We also collected data on frequent complaints in marriage and women's perceptions of arguments precipitating violence.

RESULTS

Over 85% of women experienced physical wife abuse (n = 49). Indicators of paternal disinvestment positively covary with indicators of marital strife and with rates of wife abuse. The wife's age, matrilocal residence, and presence of joint dependent offspring decrease the likelihood of violence through direct and indirect routes.

CONCLUSIONS

Wife abuse is linked to the importance of paternal investment in human families, and is a means by which men control women's responses to a dual reproductive strategy of familial investment and pursuit of extramarital sexual relationships. This framework is more general than traditional sociological and evolutionary perspectives emphasizing patriarchy and men's sexual jealousy, respectively.