Detrimental effects of intimate partner violence on the nutritional status of children: insights from PDHS 2012-2013

Abstract

Background: Endemicity of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is established globally. Children are directly dependent on mothers for care and nourishment. Literature has shown inconsistent association between IPV and nutritional status of children, and no nationwide study has been conducted in Pakistan to test this association. Thus, we aimed to do a secondary data analysis on Pakistan Demographic Health Survey (PDHS 2012-13) to explore the association of IPV and the nutritional status of children.Methods: This secondary data analysis was conducted on nationally representative data of PDHS 2012-13. All four provinces, including Islamabad Capital Territory and Gilgit Baltistan districts were taken, and two stage stratified random sampling was performed. The conflict tactics scale (CTS) was used to quantify Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), and its emotional and physical dimensions.Results: This study included mother-child dyads (n=1851) who completed the domestic violence module in PDHS. The lifetime prevalence of intimate partner violence was almost 40% among married women of reproductive age group. About 20% of women reported emotional violence and 2.5% women reported physical violence only. However, 16% of the women reported having suffered from both emotional and physical violence. Women who suffered from emotional violence had children with significantly higher odds of being underweight (OR, 95% CI: 1.57, 1.04-2.36) and stunted (OR, 95% CI: 1.54, 1.05-2.24) respectively. IPV was not found to be significantly associated with occurrence of wasting in children.Conclusions: Policy implications towards this issue call for establishing programmes and laws to protect women and children from the detrimental effects of violence. Provision of initiatives which focus on women autonomy and empowerment via increased access to education and economic opportunities.

Filter-Based Factor Selection Methods in Partial Least Squares Regression

“…This study proposed and tested a set of quantiles as threshold values for all FS measures including existing and proposed FS methods which can be further applied to other research studies. The influential factors of nutritional status of children selected by Dimp measure were consistent with various previous studies [33]- [45].…”

Association between maternal experiences of intimate partner violence and child stunting: a secondary analysis of the Demographic Health Surveys of four South Asian countries

“…This discrepancy might be attributed to other sociocultural and demographic factors that directly contribute to the high prevalence of both child stunting and IPV. A previous study from Pakistan reported a significant association between IPV and child stunting 39. However, the prevalence of abuse did not show a consistent trend across the countries.…”

“…A previous study from Pakistan reported a significant association between IPV and child stunting. 39 However, the prevalence of abuse did not show a consistent trend across the countries. Notably, countries with low to medium Human Development Index (HDI) scores, such as Pakistan, Nepal and India, displayed higher rates of stunting.…”

The Effect of Women’s Empowerment on Intimate Partner Violence and Child Nutrition Outcomes in India, Nepal, and Pakistan

“…From a study in Pakistan using nationally representative data, it was found that there is a significant positive association between malnutrition in children under five years of age and emotional violence experienced by the mother. This relationship was evident for being underweight and for stunting among children and women in rural areas who had children with higher levels of malnutrition, due to a higher incidence of IPV (Shaukat et al, 2018).…”