Investigating Pathways Linking of Women’s Education Status and Empowerment to Intimate Partner Violence Among Married Women in Sri Lanka: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Abstract

In Sri Lanka, intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a major concern, particularly for married women. Women’s education and empowerment are significant contributors to IPV. Despite this, there have been no recent studies exploring the complex relationship between education and multidimensions of empowerment in relation to IPV in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this research addresses this gap by exploring the complex pathways connecting married women’s education and multidimensional empowerment to IPV. Using data from the 2019 Sri Lankan Women’s Wellbeing Survey, this study included 1,165 married women. A path analysis based on structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the complex interplay between distinct empowerment domains and IPV. The SEM results revealed both direct and indirect effects of women’s education and empowerment on IPV experiences. Education is positively linked to age at marriage, employment status, and husbands’ educational level, while inversely associated with accepting attitudes toward violence. Age at marriage plays a major role as a mediator, mediating the relationship between women’s education and their involvement in decision-making, and the relationship between husbands’ education and women’s IPV experience. Moreover, the relationship between women’s age at marriage and their IPV experiences was fully mediated by their decision-making ability, highlighting the importance of empowerment in decision-making. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions that address the interconnected factors affecting IPV risk among married women in Sri Lanka, particularly focusing on education, empowerment, and marriage timing.