Prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence by type and severity: population-based studies in Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Ukraine

Risk factors for intimate partner emotional violence among women in union in Uganda

Introduction

Despite the growing evidence of the prevalence of gender-based violence in Uganda, less is known about the factors influencing intimate partner emotional violence (IPEV) among married women in the country. This study investigated the social demographic factors associated with IPEV among married women aged 15 years and older.

Data and methods

The study used the 2016 Uganda Demographic Healthy Survey (UDHS) data. A weighted sample of 5,642 women who had been in a union was selected. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to analyze the predictors of IPEV.

Results

Almost four in 10 (38%) married women experienced IPEV. Witnessing parental violence (OR = 1.37, CI = 0.59-0.92), partner's controlling behavior (OR = 4.26, CI = 3.29-5.52), and attaining age 35+ (OR = 1.44, CI = 1.06-1.95) increased the odds of IPEV. Residing in rural areas (OR = 0.004, CI = 0.48-0.99) and having higher education (OR = 0.51, CI = 0.26-1.00) decreased the odds of IPEV.

Conclusion and implications

Witnessing parental violence, alcohol consumption, age, place of residence, partner's controlling behavior, and level of education influence IPEV among married women in Uganda. The findings have several implications including strengthening IPEV-prevention campaigns, women empowerment, and alcohol consumption regulations.

Intimate partner violence against ever-partnered women in Europe: Prevalence and associated factors-Results from the violence against women EU-wide survey

Study questions

To describe the prevalence of physical, sexual, and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in the European Union (EU) and to search for their determinants among demographic, socioeconomic, health-related factors, and partner characteristics.

Methods

Observational study. Data from the violence against women survey, the first study conducted in the EU, which simultaneously measured all dimensions of IPV and many characteristics. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights randomly conducted face-to-face interviews among the 28 countries with 42,002 women aged 18-74 who resided in the survey country and spoke the language. IPV is defined by a positive answer to at least one question about physical, sexual, or psychological violence perpetrated by a current or ex-partner.

Findings

Among the 40,357 women having already been in a relationship, 51.7% (51.2-52.2) reported having been victims of violence in their lifetime. The prevalence of physical, sexual, and psychological IPV was, respectively, 20.0% (19.6-20.4), 8.4% (8.2-8.7), and 48.5% (48.1-49.0). Women, who were younger, employed, had highly qualified work, had at least one immigrant parent, lived in an urban setting, were unmarried, separated, divorced, widowed, childless, cohabited with a partner, and others over the age of 18, had worse self-perceived health, or a history of violence before the age of 15 were more likely to report IPV. It was the same when their partners had a lower level of education, no work, were home staying, earned less than they did, were involved in 10 years of relationship, were frequently drunk, or were violent otherwise.

Major implication

The lifetime prevalence of reported IPV among women in Europe is high and likely underestimated. The results emphasize the importance of a comprehensive definition of IPV and partners' characteristics. They highlight socioeconomic differences and poorer health status for victims of IPV.

Intimate Partner Violence in Nicaragua: The Role of Possessive Jealousy, Intrasexual Competitiveness, Life History, Mate Value, and Stress

Using an evolutionary perspective, we examined predictors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the Department of the Rio San Juan in Nicaragua. Specifically, we focused on possessive jealousy, intrasexual competitiveness, life history strategy, mate value, and stress. The sample consisted of 199 men and 201 women (mean age = 36.48, SD = 10.47) from the general population who were all personally interviewed. For all variables, validated measures were used. The data were analyzed for men and women separately, using regression analyses. In contrast to previous research and our expectations, possessive jealousy was not related to IPV among men or women. Rather, among men, IPV was independently predicted by (a) intrasexual competitiveness, (b) a fast life history strategy, (c) a low mate value, and (d) stress, together explaining 35% of the variance. Among women, violence against one's partner was only predicted by intrasexual competitiveness (3% explained variance). These results suggest that perpetration of IPV in Nicaragua may have qualitative different roots among men than among women, and that for men, more "triggers" are present which may evoke aggression toward their partners. These results are discussed in light of their relevance for theory and practice.

Factors associated with experiencing sexual violence among female gender-based violence survivors in conflict-afflicted eastern Ukraine

Background

Since 2014, over 1.6 million people have been forcibly displaced by the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In 2014, 8% of reproductive-aged women in Ukraine had ever experienced sexual violence, compared to 5% in 2007. This increase was driven by non-domestic sexual violence. Our study examined characteristics of women in eastern Ukraine receiving psychosocial services following sexual violence compared to survivors of other forms of gender-based violence.

Methods

Intake data collected between February 2016 and June 2017 by psychosocial service providers in five conflict-affected areas of Ukraine from women, aged 15–49, (N = 8525), was analyzed. Descriptive analysis and covariate adjusted logistic and negative binomial regressions were used to identify socioeconomic, incident and access to services factors associated with having experienced sexual violence compared to other forms of violence.

Results

Among this sample of survivors receiving psychosocial services, 2.6% (n = 220) reported experiencing sexual violence. A majority of sexual violence acts reported were committed by non-domestic perpetrators (61.4%); followed by intimate partners (25.9%). Almost half of sexual violence cases occurred at home (49.1%). Experiencing sexual violence was positively associated with being younger, single and internally displaced, and negatively with engaging in unpaid labor, such as childcare. Women who experienced sexual violence delayed seeking care by 4 days compared to other gender-based violence survivors. Sexual violence survivors were less likely than physical violence survivors to have reported the incident prior to receiving care (adjusted odds ratio = 0.39; 95% confidence interval = 0.28–0.54).

Conclusions

Non-domestic and intimate partner sexual violence were both prevalent in our sample. Compared to survivors disclosing other types of gender-based violence, sexual violence survivors appear to face unique barriers to reporting and accessing timely care. Prevention and outreach programs tailored to the specific vulnerabilities, such as displacement status, and needs of sexual violence survivors in conflict settings are urgently needed.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10830-9.

Women's decision-making autonomy and utilization of antenatal, natal and post-natal healthcare services: Insights from Tajikistan's national surveys

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this article is to investigate the link between women's autonomy and their utilization of antenatal, natal and post-natal healthcare services in Tajikistan. Previous studies focused only on a single dimension of such services, for instance, utilization of antenatal care. By contrast, we explore antenatal, natal and post-natal healthcare services utilization using the number of indicator for each of the dimensions.

METHODS

Data come from two national surveys that were conducted in 2012 and 2017. The target population is women of reproductive age (16-49) who were married or cohabitating with a partner (N = 7540). Several regression models were estimated to quantify association between women's autonomy and the utilization.

RESULTS

Lack of women's autonomy is associated with a lower probability of: (a) having had at least four antenatal check-ups during pregnancy, (b) beginning first antenatal check-up early, (c) delivering in a healthcare facility, (d) having the skilled attendance during pregnancy, (e) having a mother post-delivery check-up, and (f) having a child post-delivery check-up. The size effect of women's autonomy is stronger than that of well-developed precursors of utilization such as poverty and mothers' education.

CONCLUSION

Women autonomy should be improved to achieve higher rates of child and maternal healthcare utilization. Studies of maternal and child healthcare utilization should control explicitly for women's autonomy.

Intimate Partner Violence in Pregnancy: Knowledge and Experiences of Pregnant Women and Controlling Behavior of Male Partners in Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria

Background

Violence against women perpetrated by an intimate partner is an important public health issue. In recent years, attention has focused also on intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy due to its prevalence, adverse health consequences, and intervention potentials.

Aim

To determine the knowledge, experiences, and factors influencing IPV, including the controlling behaviors of male partners of pregnant women attending an antenatal clinic (ANC) of a tertiary health facility in Sokoto. Materials and method. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 260 pregnant women attending ANC in a tertiary health facility in the Sokoto metropolis. They were selected using a systematic sampling technique, and a set of pretested questionnaire items was used for data collection. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 20.

Results

The respondents' ages ranged from 19 to 40 years with a mean of 29.09 ± 4.99 years, and up to 83.5% of them were in a monogamous setting. Three-quarters of them were Muslims mostly from urban areas (72.1%), and 36.4% had a university or HND degree. Majority of them responded correctly to questions on IPV; overall, up to 99.2% of them had good knowledge of IPV. About 33% of the respondents have experienced IPV while pregnant and up to 61.7% of them said they did nothing because of fear. Some of the controlling behaviors of male partners included always asking for permission before seeing friends and family members and also controlling their finances. Factors associated with IPV include tribe, place of residence, and partner consuming alcohol.

Conclusion

Majority of the respondents had good knowledge of IPV with about one-third of them ever experiencing it. Respondent's partners were mostly jealous and exhibited some form of controlling behaviors. Physical violence was the most prevalent form, and most of the victims did nothing about it. Government and women's right groups should push for the implementation of tougher punitive measures against perpetrators of IPV.

Sexual violence as a predictor of unintended pregnancy among married young women: evidence from the 2016 Nepal demographic and health survey

BACKGROUND

Sexual violence in marital relationship is higher among women married at young age. Although sexual violence has been found to increase risk for unintended pregnancy, there is a limited published data from Nepal linking sexual violence with unintended pregnancy. The current study aimed to investigate association of partner sexual violence with unintended pregnancy among young married women who experienced child birth in last 5 years.

METHODS

Using data from Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, we studied the prevalence of sexual violence and unintended pregnancy, and their association among 560 married women (weighted sample) of 15-24 years who gave childbirth in last 5 years of the survey. We used multivariate logistic regression to analyse the association of sexual violence and other factors with unintended pregnancy. Analysis was conducted considering inverse probability weighting, clustering, and stratification to provide unbiased estimates of the population parameters.

RESULTS

Nearly a quarter of women (22.7%) reported to have experienced unintended pregnancy in the last 5 years of the survey and almost one in 10 women (9%) reported to have ever experienced sexual violence from their husbands. Women who ever experienced sexual violence from their husbands were at 2.3 times higher odds to report an unintended pregnancy (aOR = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.1-4.8) compared to women who did not experience sexual violence from their husbands independent of important socio-demographic variables and ever use of contraception.

CONCLUSION

The strong association of sexual violence within marital relationship with unintended pregnancy among young women in Nepal necessitates the provision of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. Women need routine assessment, and referral to appropriate services for sexual violence to reduce unintended pregnancy and its consequences.

A gender-focused analysis of structural and social precipitators to child institutionalization in Azerbaijan: A qualitative study

Deinstitutionalization reforms in the post-Soviet region-the region with the highest rate of institutional care worldwide-are aimed at reducing the number of children in institutions. To develop context-specific gatekeeping strategies and prevent new cohorts of children from entering institutions, it is crucial to understand the local factors that contribute to institutional placement. Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study explores the contexts of institutional placement of children in Azerbaijan from their caregivers' perspectives. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews of the parents and primary caregivers (N = 26) of children placed in the institutional care system in Azerbaijan. Using systematic thematic analysis with inductive coding, we identified caregivers' reasons for placing children in the system, and inferred the life circumstances that led parents-women in particular-to be more likely to place their children in institutions. Our findings reveal multiple, gendered pathways that contribute to such placement. The majority of caregivers were single mothers, many of whom had divorced their husbands in response to domestic violence (often attributed to the husband's substance addiction). The strong stigma against divorce led women to be ostracized by close family members, often leaving them without economic and social support. Because of the limitations of public benefits available in the region, publicly-funded child institutions are often the only remaining way to provide education and care for their children. This qualitative study shows the importance of addressing the social and economic needs of parents, single mothers in particular, to prevent child institutional placement in the post-Soviet Caucasus region.

Time for action: Intimate partner violence troubles one third of Ethiopian women

Background

Intimate partner violence is a major challenges faced by women especially in developing world. Its consequences range from personal health problems up to countrywide loss of productivity and poverty. There is limited empirical evidence documenting intimate partner violence and underlying reasons in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the magnitude of intimate partner violence and associated factors in Ethiopia.

Methods

We analyzed the 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey data. About 2,750 women aged 15–49 years were included in the survey. Intimate partner violence was measured in three dimensions: physical, emotional and sexual violence. Multiple logistic regression was conducted to identify independent predictors. Variables with p-value less than 0.05 were considered as significantly associated with dimensions of violence. All analysis were adjusted for clusters and sample weights.

Results

Overall 32.5% of Ethiopian women experienced at least one type of intimate partner violence. Physical and emotional violence were each experienced by 22.5% of the women, while 9.6% of the study participants encountered sexual violence. The age difference between a woman and her intimate partner has a positive effect on emotional and sexual violence while the opposite is true for physical violence. Moreover, physical violence was significantly associated with place of residence, and husband education. Both emotional and sexual violence were predicted by wealth of the household and husband’s employment status. In addition to these, lower educational status of the partner affects emotional violence positively.

Conclusion

Substantial proportion of women in Ethiopia continue to suffer from intimate partner violence. Physical and emotional violence were much more common than sexual violence. In the light of determinants, we have reported in here, we recommend empowering women in all realm of life by improving their socio-economic status with focus to their educational and economic status.

Intimate Partner Violence in Tajikistan: Risk and Protective Factors

Background: Violence against women perpetrated by intimate partners (IPV) is a sufficiently serious social issue in the countries of the former Soviet Union to warrant focused attention and sociological research. In spite of recent advances in the understanding of the prevalence and detrimental consequences of IPV worldwide, little is known about IPV in transitional countries, where very few studies have been carried out. Investigating IPV against women in different societies and analyzing micro- and macro-level factors (i.e., social, economic, psychological, etc.) that contribute to IPV is important for social scientists in order to understand the nature of IPV and to combat it. Objectives: The aims of the study were to examine the prevalence of physical IPV in Tajikistan and discuss the risk factors for IPV in this country of the former Soviet Union. Method: This research is based on the data from the Tajik Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 2012. SPSS 21.0 and STATA 13 were used for statistical analysis, which involved a multistep process and included a series of statistical methods such as a univariate descriptive analysis of IPV predictor and outcome variables and a multilevel regression model for survey data to estimate the effect of individual- and community-level characteristics and to take into consideration the multilevel nature of IPV. The analyses rely upon binomial and ordered logistic regression models. Results: The results of this study demonstrate that physical IPV is not a rare phenomenon in Tajikistan where 18% of women in this region have experienced IPV at some point of their lives, and the rate of lifetime occurrence of IPV is 17.5%. While women's older age and living in rural area are protective factors against IPV in Tajikistan, risk factors for physical IPV include higher number of children, household wealth, women's employment, partner's alcohol consumptions, witnessing IPV in women's family of origin, justification of IPV by women, and partner's controlling behavior. Conclusion: The current study provides evidence that a significant number of women are physically abused by their intimate partners in Tajikistan. In the context of the significant structural changes and the strengthening of patriarchal ideology resulted by the collapse if the Soviet Union, an examination of the risk factors of IPV in this region is well-timed and important for the understanding of gender relations and gender-based violence.

Intimate partner violence perpetrated by young adult women against men in Ukraine: Examining individual, familial, and cultural factors

We examined the role of financial strain, parent-to-parent violence, parent-to-child violence, emotional distress, and alcohol use in intimate partner violence perpetrated by young adult women against men in Ukraine. The moderating role of acceptability of intimate partner violence and violence-related laws and regulations was also examined. Four hundred and six full-time female university students from four universities in Ukraine participated in the study. We found that emotional distress, parent-to-parent, and parent-to-child violence mediated the link between financial strain and intimate partner violence perpetrated by women on men. However, we found limited support for the moderating role of acceptability of intimate partner violence and violence-related laws and regulations in the relationship between individual and familial factors on intimate partner violence. The findings from this investigation suggest that there is a distinct need for supporting families and individuals in dealing with issues of intimate partner violence directed by women against men in Ukraine. Aggr. Behav. 42:380-393, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Spousal Violence in 5 Transitional Countries: A Population-Based Multilevel Analysis of Individual and Contextual Factors

OBJECTIVES

I examined the individual- and community-level factors associated with spousal violence in post-Soviet countries.

METHODS

I used population-based data from the Demographic and Health Survey conducted between 2005 and 2012. My sample included currently married women of reproductive age (n = 3932 in Azerbaijan, n = 4053 in Moldova, n = 1932 in Ukraine, n = 4361 in Kyrgyzstan, and n = 4093 in Tajikistan). I selected respondents using stratified multistage cluster sampling. Because of the nested structure of the data, multilevel logistic regressions for survey data were fitted to examine factors associated with spousal violence in the last 12 months.

RESULTS

Partner's problem drinking was the strongest risk factor associated with spousal violence in all 5 countries. In Moldova, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, women with greater financial power than their spouses were more likely to experience violence. Effects of community economic deprivation and of empowerment status of women in the community on spousal violence differed across countries. Women living in communities with a high tolerance of violence faced a higher risk of spousal violence in Moldova and Ukraine. In more traditional countries (Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan), spousal violence was lower in conservative communities with patriarchal gender beliefs or higher financial dependency on husbands.

CONCLUSIONS

My findings underscore the importance of examining individual risk factors in the context of community-level factors and developing individual- and community-level interventions.

Intimate partner violence (physical and sexual) and sexually transmitted infection: results from Nepal Demographic Health Survey 2011

INTRODUCTION

Violence against women perpetrated by their intimate partners is a social problem with adverse health consequences. Intimate partner violence has acute and chronic as well as direct and indirect health consequences related to physical, psychological, and reproductive health. Studies exploring relationships of intimate partner violence and health consequences are rare in Nepal. Hence, this study aimed to examine the relationships between intimate partner violence and sexually transmitted infections.

METHOD

This study used data from the nationally representative Nepal Demographic Health Survey 2011, which collected data through a two-stage complex sampling technique. Women 15-49 years were asked about domestic violence including intimate partner violence. For this analysis, 3,084 currently married women were included. Questions about domestic violence were adapted from the Conflict Tactic Scale. Relationships between different forms of physical and sexual intimate partner violence and reported signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted infections were examined using multiple logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Approximately 15% of currently young and middle-aged married women experienced some form of violence in the last 12 months. About one in four women who were exposed to physical and sexual intimate partner violence reported sexually transmitted infection in the last 12 months. The odds of getting sexually transmitted infection were 1.88 [95% CI:1.29, 2.73] times higher among women exposed to any form of intimate partner violence in the last 12 months compared to women not exposed to any form of intimate partner violence.

CONCLUSION

Intimate partner violence was common among currently married women in Nepal. Being exposed to intimate partner violence and getting signs and symptoms of sexually transmitted disease were found to be associated. Integration of intimate partner violence prevention and reproductive health programs is needed to reduce the burden of sexually transmitted disease among currently married women.