Prevalence of spousal violence among married women in a rural area in North Kerala

Abstract

Background: Domestic violence has substantial public health consequences. More than one-third of women globally suffer from physical and sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner with a lifetime prevalence of 10%–69%. In India, 28.8% of the ever-married women in the reproductive age group, reported domestic violence. Although Kerala, in southern India, performs better than other Indian states on a host of human development indicators for women, 15.8% among the women in this group have ever experienced physical or sexual violence in the past 12 months, the most common perpetrator being the husband. Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among the ever-married women, residing in a selected area of northern Kerala, who have been married for at least 1 year. One to one structured interview was conducted with a pretested structured questionnaire by the investigator. Spousal violence was defined as proportion of ever-married women with a lifetime experience of violence perpetrated by their spouse, manifested through acts of physical, sexual, and/or emotional violence, even threat. Results: A total of 290 women were interviewed. The age of the participants ranged from 18 years to 64 years; majority were Muslims. Only 16.5% were college-educated and over 90% were homemakers. 29% reported having experienced spousal violence; with the most common being emotional violence (19%) closely followed by sexual violence (18.6%) and physical violence (14.8%). A little over one-third (39.7%) reported controlling behaviour of their husband. Age of the participant ( P = 0.019), absence of social support ( P = 0.034), employment status of husband ( P = 0.026), controlling behaviour of husband ( P < 0.001), alcohol abuse by husband ( P = 0.004) and extra-marital relationship of spouse ( P < 0.001) were found to have significant influence on spousal violence experience. Conclusion: More than a quarter of the married women in this rural setting have experienced one or the other form of violence. Recommendation: A multifaceted approach needs to be employed which takes into consideration legal measures, social sciences, women empowerment, mental health systems and educate the men to curb this menace.

Spousal Violence among Reproductive Age Group Women – A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…The dominant nature of elder male partner may influence violence as studies show that length of marriage, age difference of the couple, and type of marriage may all be precipitating factors. [ 16 , 17 ] Though education status has variably been associated with domestic violence,[ 16 , 18 , 24 ] literate and employed women were at increased risk of domestic violence in this study. This may be attributed to the fact that literate employed women are more outspoken that they disclose domestic violence in comparison to illiterate unemployed women, or high self-esteem in literate employed women may result in more domestic violence.…”

“…[ 27 ] These findings are similar to the findings of other studies conducted across different study settings. [ 16 – 18 ]…”

Determinants of intimate partner controlling behavior targeting women in Türkiye

“…In Pakistan, 31.8% of women aged between 15 and 24 years reported that they had been exposed to controlling behavior of their husbands ( Nasrullah et al, 2014 ). In Myanmar, 30.2% of women have been determined as being exposed to controlling behavior ( Tun and Ostergren, 2020 ), while it was 39.7% for women in North Kerala, India ( Mundodan et al, 2021 ).…”