Prevalence and Correlates of Intimate Partner Violence against Women in Liberia: Findings from 2019–2020 Demographic and Health Survey

Abstract

Background: Intimate partner violence is a global public health crisis and a human rights issue. The objectives of the study were to conduct secondary analysis of the most recent Liberia Demographic and Health Survey (2019–2020) to determine the descriptive and analytical epidemiology of intimate partner violence (IPV) and its correlates in 15–49 year old ever-married women. Methods: Association of physical, emotional, sexual, and having experienced any type of IPV with 10 explanatory socio-demographic, attitudinal, and experiences were analyzed using simple and multiple logistic regression models. Results: 55.29% of women reported having ever experienced some form of IPV perpetrated by their current or most recent husband/partner, with the most common type being physical violence. Having been slapped, insulted, made to feel bad, and physically forced into unwanted sex were the most common types of physical, emotional, and sexual IPV. The multivariable analysis showed statistically significant association with IPV for number of living children, women’s acceptance of IPV, husband/partner’s use of alcohol, and having witnessed parental physical IPV. Conclusions: The prevalence of having experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in Liberia was much higher than the prevalence for the WHO Africa region of 33%, highlighting the need for better women empowerment and gender equality in Liberia.

Prevalence, Correlates, and Trends of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Gambia: Results From 2 National Cross-Sectional Health Surveys

“…29,30 These findings of IPV’s lack of associations with either participation in decision making or occupational status of women, suggest deeply entrenched sociocultural norms and mores acting as conduit for the acceptance and practices of IPV transcending urban/rural residency status. 29 Against the backdrop of merely 1.81% prevalence of alcohol use by male partners, it is unsurprising that this attribute was not found to be statistically significant. However, the association of IPV with use of alcohol by partner is one of the strongest associations that has been reported.…”

“…However, the association of IPV with use of alcohol by partner is one of the strongest associations that has been reported. 3,16,29,31…”

“…2,23,30 While other studies have reported higher IPV association with older age or no significant association with age, as in this study. 29,32 Plausible explanations include older women being more economically dependent on their husband, thus even less empowered, while younger women being less able to negotiate marital disputes. Association between children and IPV is also contradictory; higher IPV prevalence rates have been reported in infertile women 5 ; low IPV rates in women with children have been reported from Liberia 29 ; while higher rates have been reported from Afghanistan Peru in women with children.…”

“…The modified version of the Conflict Tactics Scale, a standardized domestic violence module was used for the GDHSs. 27,28 The methodology of computing composite, various types of IPV, and their correlates has been described in detail previously, 29 a brief explanation is provided below.…”

“…Derivation of these explanatory variable has been previously described. 29 In brief, all variables were dichotomized, while “don’t know” answers were inscribed as “no.” Acceptance of any type of IPV, participation in any decision-making event, or any form of marital control demonstrated by the husband/partner, were coded as “present/yes” if answered in the affirmative. The age, household wealth, number of living children, educational attainment of respondent and her husband/partner, and occupation were coded as recorded in the Table 1.…”