Who is at risk? Individual and contextual risk factors for domestic violence in Sub-Saharan Africa: The case for Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Despite increase in women status across sub-Saharan Africa, domestic violence against women still remains an emerging problem. In the region, more than 50% of women are subjected to domestic violence in one form or the other. Domestic violence not only affects the physical well-bring of women but it also has adverse effect on reproductive health outcomes. Most studies have identified individual-level and household-level factors associated with domestic violence. However, predictors of domestic violence transcend these levels into the context into which women act their everyday life. Limited studies on women in sub-Saharan Africa have assessed the effects of context on domestic violence. An understanding of community-level factors that shape the behavior between partners is necessary for the development of comprehensive multilevel behavioral and integrated strategies that target both women and men, and attempt to modify social norms to support uptake of behavior change. Using the latest Demographic and Health Survey data from Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, this study examines both individual –and community level variables associated with domestic violence. Community-level variables related to acceptance of violence, age, and educational differences between partners, were calculated. All women from the communities contributed to the community-level variables, whether or not they are in the analysis samples. The multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed using Huber-White standard errors in Stata. This modeling approach corrects the estimated standard errors to allow for clustering of individuals within the communities and to permit an unbiased assessment of the impact of the community-level variables, controlling for individual-level factors.