Does Childhood Experience of Interparental Abuse Shape Women’s Attitude Toward Intimate Partner Violence in Their Adult Life? Evidence From 31 Developing Countries

Abstract

A significant amount of literature exists on the lasting effects of interparental abuse on children’s psychological health as adults. However, evidence on how children’s childhood experience of interparental violence shapes their attitude toward partner violence in adult intimate relationships is limited. Given the existing evidence that women’s acceptance of partner violence as a social norm increases the risk of partner violence, we analyzed the effect of girls’ witnessing interparental abuse (where a father is a perpetrator) on their attitude toward partner violence in their intimate relationships as adults. We used data from the Demographic and Health Surveys for 31 low and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa. Aggregating information about women’s attitudes toward partner violence into a binary “intimate partner violence acceptance” variable, we found that a woman who witnessed her father beat her mother was 1.62 times more likely to justify partner violence than a woman who did not experience such interparental abuse (adjusted odds ratio [ AOR] = 1.62, 95% CI [1.57, 1.66], p < .001). Additionally, using individual components of acceptance as response variables, we found that a woman who witnessed interparental abuse was significantly more likely to justify partner violence if she went out without telling her husband ( OR = 1.49, 95% CI [1.45, 1.54], p < .001), neglected children ( OR = 1.53, 95% CI [1.49, 1.58], p < .001), argued with the husband ( OR = 1.49, 95% CI [1.45, 1.53], p < .001), refused sex with the husband ( OR = 1.35, 95% CI [1.31, 1.39], p < .001), or burned food ( OR = 1.36, 95% CI [1.31, 1.41], p < .001). This study highlights the need to put in place children-specific social policies to limit the intergenerational transmission of the adverse effects of intimate partner violence.

Wife-Beating Endorsements Among African Youths: Current Prevalence and Predictors in 14 Sub-Saharan African Countries From 2015 to 2021

“…Again, as theorized by the gendered socialization hypothesis of the SLT, this study found that in 11 (representing nearly 80%) of the 14 countries, female youths were more likely than their male counterparts to justify wife-beating for at least one reason. This finding somewhat echoes the persistence of patriarchal socializations in which girls are trained to tolerate violence either by direct instructions (Krause et al, 2016) or indirectly by personal observations of men using violence against women in their community or witnessing their father beat their mother (Eriksson & Mazerolle, 2015;Mehfooz et al, 2023).…”

“…Previous studies have shown that children or individuals who witnessed interparental violence (such as when the father beat the mother) or who themselves were victims of child abuse were more likely to experience it during adulthood, either as the perpetrator or as the victims (Eriksson & Mazerolle, 2015; Gracia et al, 2020). Again, such persons are more likely to view IPVAW as “normal” (Eriksson & Mazerolle, 2015; Mehfooz et al, 2023). Due to data limitations in many of the SSA countries included in this study, the relationship between witnessing parental violence or experiencing child abuse and the justification of wife-beating among the youths could not be examined in the current study.…”