Domestic Violence During Pregnancy in India

Abstract

Domestic violence can result in many negative health consequences for women's health and well-being. Studies on domestic violence illustrate that abused women in various settings had increased health problems such as injury, chronic pain, gastrointestinal, and gynecological signs including sexually transmitted diseases, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. This article tries to understand the association between domestic violence and pregnancy outcomes and other health consequences. The study was carried out in all the six zones of India that is, northern, southern, eastern, western, central, and northeast zones. The study design was conceived as an analytical cross sectional study with multicenter approach. Multistage sampling and then probability proportion to size (PPS) sampling were done. A total of 18 states were taken for the study with a total sample of 14,507 married women and 14,108 married men. Married men were considered from the neighboring villages to understand men's perspective. To understand the situation, women were interviewed using semistructured questionnaire as well as qualitative data like FGD and case studies. The result shows that domestic violence occurs during pregnancy across six zones. The situations become worse for women if her husband or family perceived the pregnancy to be a female child and there is a demand for male child. It has major health implications in accessing and utilizing antenatal care and immunization.

The cause and consequence of domestic violence on pregnant women in India

“…Th e situation became worse for women if her husband or family perceived the pregnancy to be a female child and there was demand for a male child. Th is attitude of the women ' s family thereby indicated major health implications in accessing and utilizing antenatal care and subsequent healthcare services by pregnant women (Mahapatro et al 2011). As to the association between domestic violence and unintended pregnancy, which is defi ned here as a pregnancy not wanted at the time of conception, regarding: age; place of residence; education; working status; religion; standard of living index; type of family; number of living sons; use of contraceptive methods; induced abortion and physical violence by husbands, the multiple logistic regression showed that women who had been physically mistreated by their husbands were 47% more likely to experience unintended pregnancies (Begum et al 2010).…”

Domestic violence against women in India: A systematic review of a decade of quantitative studies

“…During childhood, less importance is given to the education of female children; further, early marriage as occurs in 45% of young, married women, according to 2005–2006 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) data (Raj, Saggurti, Balaiah, & Silverman, 2009), may also heighten susceptibility to DV (Ackerson, Kawachi, Barbeau, & Subramanian, 2008; Raj, Saggurti, Lawrence, Balaiah, & Silverman, 2010; Santhya et al, 2010; Speizer & Pearson, 2011). In reproductive years, mothers pregnant with and/or those who give birth to only female children may be more susceptible to abuse (Mahapatro, Gupta, Gupta, & Kundu, 2011) and financial, medical, and nutritional neglect. Later in life, culturally bred views of dishonour associated with widowhood may also influence susceptibility to DV by other family members (Saravanan, 2000).…”

Social Epidemiology and Global Mental Health: Expanding the Evidence from High-Income to Low- and Middle-Income Countries

“…With a strong emphasis on childbearing, there is evidence that adverse life events related to reproduction may be partially responsible for the high burden of mental health problems among women in places like India [46]. Interpersonal violence may be another potential mechanism linking negative reproductive outcomes with CMD [52]. …”