142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

308209
Social determinants of women's justification of wife beating: Implications for public health

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 3:10 PM - 3:30 PM

Syeda Jesmin, PhD, MPH , Sociology, University of North Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX
Iftekhar Amin, Ph.D. , Conseling and Human Services, University of North Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX
BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the leading causes of disability and death for women worldwide. Prior studies have identified individual and household level risk factors for IPV. Little is known about the role of the community in shaping women’s attitudinal acceptance of IPV. METHODS: This study used 2011 Bangladesh Demographic Health Surveys (BDHS) data on 13,611 married women living in 600 communities in Bangladesh. The key predictors of this study were community socioeconomic characteristics: proportion of poor, media access and exposure, and proportion of women with high school completion.  Wife beating justification was measured with questions asked to women about their opinion on wife beating in 5 different situations. RESULTS: Logistic regression reveals that community characteristics are significantly associated with women’s likelihood of justifying wife beating. Women living in disadvantaged communities had greater support for wife beating compared to their counterpart living in socioeconomically privileged communities. Among the community characteristics, media access appeared to be the strongest predictor of wife beating justification. CONCLUSIONS: This study adds to our knowledge of structural influences on IPV. Due to the large personal and societal burden of IPV related morbidity and mortality, IPV prevention programs are urgently needed, particularly for women who live in disadvantaged and rural areas.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Discuss community socioeconomic characteristics and Intimate Partner Violence acceptance Design Intimate Partner Violence prevention programs in low-income settings List women’s individual and household risk factors of IPV in the low-income settings

Keyword(s): Domestic Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I hold a Ph.D. and a M.P.H. I am a faculty member at an US university. I am engaged in research on women's health issues in the developing countries.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.