Determination of the Factors Affecting Sexual Violence against Women in Turkey: A Population-Based Analysis

Abstract

Background: Sexual violence is among the most threatening type of violence and one of the most investigated by national and international decision makers. The purpose of this study was to detect the factors that affect sexual violence against women in Turkey.Methods: In this study, a micro data set of from the survey titled Research on Domestic Violence against Women conducted by the Hacettepe University Institute of Population Studies was employed. By utilizing binary logistic and probit regression analysis, influential factors for a woman's exposure to sexual violence were detected.Results: Findings obtained from the analysis indicated that a woman's exposure to sexual violence was influenced by a variety of factors such as region, age, level of education, employment, health condition, marital status, number of children as well as exposure to physical, economic, and verbal abuse. In addition, it was found that the level of education, employment status, drug use, infidelity and other variables related to the husband/partner of the women who participated in the survey.Conclusion: Among women residing in rural and less developed regions, there remains a higher probability of exposure to sexual violence. A decrease in the woman’s level of education elevated her probability of exposure to sexual violence. An increase in women's age and an increase in the level of education of the woman’s husband/partner lowered the probability of the woman's exposure to sexual violence. Among women who had experienced physical, economic, and verbal abuse, there was a higher probability of exposure to sexual violence.

Prevalence of domestic violence and abuse among Saudi women: an online based cross-sectional study

“…This finding is consistent with the population-based analysis of women exposed to sexual violence in Turkey. 18 Concerning disclosure of violence and abuse, the low rate of violence disclosure observed in this study for all types of violence, especially to their doctor, is consistent with other studies that show a lack of privacy and fear from perpetrators. 19 In both emotional and physical violence, fathers, mothers, and brothers were the foremost perpetrators of violence, while relatives and known persons, not from the family, were sources of sexual abuse.…”