Spousal violence against women and its consequences on pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health of women in India

Abstract

Background Globally, one in three women experienced domestic violence. Alike the scenario observed in India, and a very few studies talk about violence and its consequences on women's health. Hence, the purpose of this study is to access the level of various types of spousal violence in India and to understand the association between physical, sexual and emotional violence against ever-married women by their husbands. The study further examines the consequences of spousal violence on women's health in terms of adverse pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health in India. Methods The study uses secondary data from National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4, 2015–16). The analysis was based on a sample of ever-married women aged 15–49 years. Bivariate descriptive analysis and multiple regression analyses have been carried out to understand the association between spousal violence and its consequences on women's health. Results The study finds that the physical, sexual and emotional violence experienced by ever-married women in India are 29.8%, 13.8% and 7.0%, respectively. Further, the physical and sexual violence experienced by women have a significant association with an unwanted pregnancy, abortion, miscarriages and ever had termination of pregnancies. The regression analysis shows that violence by sexual partners among battered women increased the likelihood of unwanted pregnancy. Similarly, abortion and ever had a termination of pregnancies are also adversely affected by partner violence. Further, the risk of sexually transmitted infection increases 77% by sexual violence and 44% by emotional violence among battered women. Also, Sexual violence substantially increases the risk of prolonged labour during pregnancy. Conclusion This study revealed that one in three women experiencing violence by their husband and also it is evident that various forms of spousal violence adversely affect pregnancies outcomes and reproductive health among battered women compared to not battered.

Sexual violence as a predictor of unintended pregnancy among married women of India: evidence from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (2015–16)

“…It was observed that women with a history of sexual IPV reported a higher risk of having unintended pregnancies, even when the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the respondents were controlled for through a hierarchical approach. The said higher odds of unintended pregnancy in victims of sexual violence alone compared to physical violence corroborated with the previous studies from India and abroad [16,24]. Other studies have also demonstrated that sexual IPV alone was the strongest predictor of unintended pregnancies among all forms of IPV [25].…”

Women Victims of Violence: A Comparison of Their Perceptions of Parenting and Desire to Avoid Pregnancy

“…Although there are studies in the literature examining the causes and consequences of violence against women, no study comparing the perceptions of women who are victims of violence regarding parenting and the desire to avoid pregnancy could be found (Bramhankar & Reshmi, 2021;Ebrahimi & Mohamadlou, 2019;Nnaemeka, Anazodo & Okeke, 2015). In this study, which evaluated the perceptions of married and fertile women who were over the age of doi: 10.33715/inonusaglik.1231583 Women Victims of Violence: A Comparison of Their Perceptions of Parenting and Desire to Avoid Pregnancy Esra GÜNEY, Esra KARATAŞ OKYAY 1117 been exposed to violence, nearly half of the participants (44.1%) stated that they had been subjected to violence.…”

COVID-19, nutrition, and gender: An evidence-informed approach to gender-responsive policies and programs

“…Norms related to sexuality, masculinity, and marriage put girls at increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence (GBV) ( UN Women, 2020b ; Bramhankar and Reshmi, 2021 ; Kotlar et al, 2021 ; WHO, 2020 ) and early marriage ( UNESCO. UNESCO, 2020 ; UNICEF.…”