Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:48:56.374Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

CHILDHOOD EXPOSURE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS WIFE BEATING IN ADULT LIFE: A STUDY OF MEN IN INDIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2009

YING ZHU  and
KOUSTUV DALAL
YING ZHU
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
KOUSTUV DALAL
Affiliation:
Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Center for Medical Technology Assessment and Division of Social Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Linkoping University, Sweden
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This study examined men's justification of wife beating in relation to their perceived rights and autonomy using a nationally representative sample of 18,047 men in India with childhood exposure to parental violence. Five reasons for wife beating justification, four items of men's perceived rights, and five items of household autonomy were analysed using χ2 test and logistic regression. Among 18,047 participants, 67% justified wife beating. Low education, economic stress and being unmarried were generally more associated with justifying wife beating for all five reasons. Wife's refusal of sex and husband's final say on household autonomy are risk factors. Joint autonomy on household decision making and wife's autonomy on managing her own earnings are protective factors. Perceived relationship rights and autonomy are highly predictive of wife-beating justification for the men who have been exposed to parental violence during childhood. The study has significant implications for public health planners and education strategies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 255 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackerson, L. K., Kawachi, I., Barbeau, E. M. & Subramanian, S. V. (2008) Effects of individual and proximate educational context on intimate partner violence: a population-based study of women in India. American Journal of Public Health 98(3), 507–514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bachman, R. & Saltzman, L. E. (1995) Violence Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey, a National Crime Victimization Report. US Department of Justice, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bawah, A. A., Akweongo, P., Simmons, R. & Philips, J. F. (1999) Women's fears and men's anxieties: the impact of family planning on gender relations in northern Ghana. Studies in Family Planning 30(1), 54–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dalal, K. (2008) Causes and Consequences of Violence Against Child Labor and Women in Developing Countries. Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Dalal, K., Rahman, F. & Jansson, B. (2009) Verbal, physical and substance abuse against married women in rural Bangladesh. Journal of Biosocial Science 41(5), 561–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisikovits, Z., Winstok, Z. & Fishman, G. (2004) The first Israeli national survey on domestic violence. Violence Against Women 10, 729–748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faramarzi, M., Esmailzadeh, S. & Mosavi, S. (2005) A comparison of abused and non-abused women's definitions of domestic violence and attitudes to acceptance of male dominance. European Journal of Obstetrics Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 122(2), 225–231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fikree, F. F., Razzak, J. A. & Durocher, J. (2005) Attitudes of Pakistani men to domestic violence: a study from Karachi, Pakistan. Journal of Men's Health and Gender 2, 49–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Moreno, C., Jansen, H., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L. & Watts, C. (2005) WHO Multi-Country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women: Initial Results Prevalence, Health Outcomes and Women's Responses. WHO, Geneva.Google Scholar
Gelles, R. J. & Straus, M. A. (1974) Determinants of violence in the family: toward a theoretical integration. In Wesley, R., Hill, R., Nye, F. I. & Reise, I. L. (eds) Contemporary Theories about the Family. Free Press, New York, pp. 549–581.Google Scholar
Gil-Gonzalez, D., Vives-Cases, C., Ruiz, M. T., Carrasco-Portino, M. & Alvarez-Dardet, C. (2007) Childhood experiences of violence in perpetrators as a risk factor of intimate partner violence: a systematic review. Journal of Public Health 10, 1–9.Google Scholar
Go, V. F., Johnson, S. C. & Bentley, M. E., Sivaram, S., Srikrishnan, A. K., Celentano, D. D. & Solomon, S. (2005) Crossing the threshold: engendered definitions of socially acceptable domestic violence in Chennai, India. Cultural Health and Sexuality 5, 393–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, J., Silverman, J. G., Hemenway, D., Acevedo-Garcia, D., Stein, D. J. & Williams, D. R. (2008) Physical violence against intimate partners and related exposures to violence among South African men. Canadian Medical Association Journal 179(6), 535–541.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardt, J. & Rutter, M. (2004) Validity of adult retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences: review of the evidence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 45(2), 260–273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heise, L., Ellsberg, M. & Gottemoeller, M. (1999) Ending Violence against Women. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.Google Scholar
Jejeebhoy, S. J. (2002) Convergence and divergence in spouses' perspectives on women's autonomy in rural India. Studies in Family Planning 33(4), 299–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jewkes, R., Levin, J. & Penn-Kekana, L. (2002) Risk factors for domestic violence: findings from a South African cross-sectional study. Social Science and Medicine 55 (9), 1603–1617.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeyaseelan, L., Kumar, S., Neelakantan, N., Peedicayil, A., Pillai, R. & Duvvury, N. (2007) Physical spousal violence against women in India: some risk factors. Journal of Biosocial Science 39, 657–670.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koenig, M. A., Ahmed, S., Hossain, M. B. & Mozumder, A. B. M. K. A. (2003) Women's status and domestic violence in rural Bangladesh: individual- and community-level effects. Demography 40(2), 269–288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koenig, M. A., Stephenson, R., Ahmed, S., Jejeebhoy, S. J. & Campbell, J. (2006) Individual and contextual determinants of domestic violence in North India. American Journal of Public Health 96, 132–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krishnan, S. (2005) Do structural inequalities contribute to marital violence? Ethnographic evidence from rural south India. Violence Against Women 6, 759–775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krug, E. G., Dalberg, L. L., Mercy, J. A., Zwi, A. B. & Lozano, R. (2002) Sexual violence. In World Report on Violence and Health. WHO, Geneva, pp. 149–181.Google ScholarPubMed
McKinney, C. M., Caetano, R., Ramisetty-Mikler, S. & Nelson, S. (2009) Childhood family violence and perpetration and victimization of intimate partner violence: findings from a national population-based study of couples. Annals of Epidemiology 19, 25–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin, S. L., Moracco, K. E., Garro, J., Tsui, A. O., Kupper, L. L., Chase, J. L. & Campbell, J. C. (2002) Domestic violence across generations: findings from northern India. International Journal of Epidemiology 31, 560–572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Naved, R. T. & Persson, L. A. (2005) Factors associated with spousal physical violence against women in Bangladesh. Studies in Family Planning 36, 289–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nayak, M. B., Byrne, C. A., Martin, M. K. & Abraham, A. G. (2003) Attitudes toward violence against women: a cross-nation study. Sex Roles 49, 333–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panchanadeswaran, S. & Koverola, C. (2005) The voices of battered women in India. Violence Against Women 11(6), 736–758.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pandey, C. K., Dutt, D. & Banerjee, B. (2008) Partner and relationship factors in domestic violence: from a slum in Calcutta, India. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 24(7), 1175–1191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parish, W. L., Wang, T., Laumann, E. O., Pan, S. & Luo, Y. (2004) Intimate partner violence in China: national prevalence, risk factors and associated health problems. International Family Planning Perspectives 30(4), 174–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, V. (1997) Wife-beating in rural south India: a qualitative and econometric analysis. Social Science and Medicine 44(8), 1169–1180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rastogi, M. & Therly, P. (2006) Dowry and its link to violence against women in India: feminist psychological perspectives. Trauma, Violence & Abuse 7(1), 66–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ratner, P. A. (1993) The incidence of wife abuse and mental health status in abused wives in Edmonton. Canadian Journal of Public Health 84, 246–249.Google ScholarPubMed
Schafer, J., Caetano, R. & Cunradi, C. B. (2004) A path model of risk factors for intimate partner violence among couples in the United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 19, 127–142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simister, J. & Makowiec, J. (2008) Domestic violence in India: effects of education. Indian Journal of Gender Studies 15, 507–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Visaria, L. (1999) Violence Against Women in India: Evidence from Rural Gujarat. International Center for Research on Women, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
WHO (2002) World Report on Violence and Health. WHO, Geneva.Google Scholar
Yodanis, C. L. (2004) Gender inequality, violence against women, and fear: a cross-national test of the feminist theory of violence against women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 19, 655–675.CrossRefGoogle Scholar