Magnitude and factors associated with intimate partner violence against pregnant women in Ethiopia: a multilevel analysis of 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey

Abstract

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological/emotional abuse, or controlling behaviors by a current or former partner or spouse. IPV has a special concern for pregnant women since it leads to higher rates of miscarriage, several complications including adverse birth outcomes. So far, the effect of contextual factors on IPV was largely overlooked. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the magnitude and factors associated with IPV among pregnant women in Ethiopia. Method Data from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey was used for this study. A total of 4167 (weighted sample) pregnant women were included in the analysis. The multi-level logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with IPV. Finally, the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% CI and random effects for the multilevel logistic regression model was reported. Results In this study, the overall magnitude of IPV among pregnant women was 28.74 (95% CI 27.38, 30.13) with emotional violence being the most common (24.09%) type. In the multi-level analysis, women with no education (AOR = 2.07; 95%CI 1.23, 3.48), primary education (AOR = 2.04; 95%CI:1.24, 3.38), and secondary education (AOR = 1.53; 95%CI:1.29.2.62), women from households with poorest (AOR = 1.72; 95%CI: 1.16, 2.56), poorer (AOR = 1.62;95% CI:1.09, 2.41), middle (AOR = 1.74;95%CI:1.17, 2.56), and richer (AOR = 1.58;95%CI: 1.08, 2.33) wealth index, women aged 35–39 years (AOR = 1.28;95%CI:1.01, 1.63) and 40–49 years (AOR = 1.78;95%CI:1.28, 2.45) and those from pastoral (AOR = 1.47;95%CI:1.04, 1.93) and agrarian regions (AOR = 1.32;95%CI 1.02, 1.88) had a higher likelihood of having IPV. Of the partner-related factors, women with husbands who drink alcohol (AOR = 2.94; 95%CI: 2.36, 3.42) and secondary educational level (AOR = 1.47; 95%CI 1.02, 2.12) had higher odds of experiencing IPV during pregnancy. Conclusion Intimate partner violence during pregnancy is a public health problem in Ethiopia. Therefore, improving the educational status of women and their husbands, improving the economic capacity of women, and promoting the healthy behavior of husbands by reducing the alcohol consumption in those agrarian and pastoral regions of Ethiopia is vital to reduce the magnitude of IPV.

Intimate partner violence and associated factors among reproductive age women in Liberia: Further analysis of recent Liberian demographic and health survey

“…Emotional violence was the most common form of violence among ever-married women in Liberia followed by physical violence. This nding is in line with the studies conducted in Lagos , Saudi-Arabia and Ethiopia (19,26,27).…”

“…Older women were less likely to experience intimate partner violence as compared with younger women. This nding is inconsistent with the studies conducted in Ethiopia, Namibia, and Bangladeshi (19,23,28). The possible reason for the discrepancy might be the difference in study population used, in which those studies conducted the study on pregnant women which might increase IPV.…”

“…Education is a powerful instrument to shape attitudes and change behavior. Educated individuals can get information from different sources about domestic violence and other health-related information in general (19). The other possible reason might be that educated men may give freedom to their wife as compared with uneducated ones and education may also help to change men attitude towards gender roles and norms as well as the traditional perception towards gender equality (27).…”

“…Socio-demographic characteristics of the mother ( Age of the mother, religion, region, educational level, occupation, residence, wealth index), media exposure(yes, no), sex of household head, husbands education, husbands working status, attitude towards wife-beating(positive, Negative) cigarette smoking (yes, no), drinking alcohol(yes, no) , currently pregnant, and women decision making autonomy( yes, no) were included in the study. Those variables were identi ed after reviewing different literature (12,14,15,(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

Intimate partner violence and associated factors among reproductive age women in Liberia: a cross-sectional study using a recent Liberian demographic and health survey

“…Religion was initially categorized as Christian, Muslim, traditional religion no religion traditional (0.47), and no religion (0.83) was less than 5% we recode religion into Christian and Muslim by grouping traditional and no religion under Muslim religion y giving the name as Muslim/other. Those variables were identified as factors associated with IPV after reviewing different literature [ 13 , 15 , 16 , 23 – 26 ].…”