Intimate Partner Violence Among General and Urban Poor Populations in Kathmandu, Nepal

Abstract

Comparative studies are lacking on intimate partner violence (IPV) between urban poor and general populations. The objective of this study is to identify the prevalence and risk factors of physical IPV among the general and poor populations in urban Nepal. A cross-sectional study was conducted by structured questionnaire interview. Participants included 905 ever-married women in Kathmandu aged 15 to 49 years. Of the 905 participants, 680 were randomly selected from general population and 225 were recruited from urban poor population, who lived in purposively selected two communities. The prevalence and association between ever experiencing physical IPV and sociodemographic variables were examined. Results showed that the prevalence of physical IPV was 33.8% among the urban poor population (n = 225) and 19.9% among the general population (n = 680; p < .01). Several factors were significantly associated with physical IPV in both populations: the frequency of the husband's drinking, polygyny, and lower household economic status. However, two factors were associated with physical IPV only among the general population: the husband's lower educational level and early marriage. The conclusions of this study are that compared to the general population, the urban poor population showed a significantly higher prevalence of physical IPV and differences in the associated risk factors. The urban poor population requires focused data collection as well as tailored interventions to reduce IPV.

Male Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Wife Beating: A Multi-Country Study in South Asia

“…The prevalence of wife abuse is very high in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal [7,8,10,16,27]. The current study suggests that young boys, who had witnessed paternal violence against the mother, were subsequently more likely to become wife beaters themselves as a result of social learning and the formation of behavioral norms.…”

“…The participants might have been reluctant to justify wife beating given the sensitive nature of the questions and strong social stigma. As the study was part of a household survey, the young males also might be suspicious of disclosing such facts [2,3,10,14,33]. Another reason may be fewer respondents present during the interviews for various reasons, such as the rural-urban migration of the young men in Bangladesh [22].…”

“…Wife beating is an acute issue in the Indian subcontinent [7][8][9][10]. However, few studies have examined men's attitudes toward wife beating, especially in that region [2,3,6,10 -14] A study on Indian men's attitudes toward violence against women indicates that men's relationship rights and autonomy are highly predictive of wife beating, especially for those men who have been exposed to parental violence during childhood [3].…”

“…Poverty is identified as significant risk factor of wife beating [4,14]. The prevalence of violence against women, especially by husbands, is very high in this subregion [3,4,7,10,14,16]. Culturally, violence against women in this subregion is an acute problem because it has been accepted as "normal life phenomena."…”

Gender difference in drinking among the urban squatters of Nepal

“…As a consequence, drinkers may have to face violence (36,37) and non communicable diseases (38). What matters most is, the vulnerability of women to interpersonal violence (37) and risky sexual behaviors (39), because of drinking behavior of their partners.…”