Examining Spatial Variability in the Association Between Male Partner Alcohol Misuse and Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Ghana: A GWR Analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626051990029
Author(s):  
Prince M. Amegbor ◽  
Ortis Yankey ◽  
Mark W. Rosenberg ◽  
Clive E. Sabel

Globally, it is estimated that about 30% of ever-partnered women have experienced some form of intimate partner violence (IPV)—physical assault, sexual assault, or emotional abuse. The prevalence of IPV in sub-Saharan Africa is considerably higher than the global estimate. In Ghana, it is estimated that 24% of women have experienced physical and/or sexual IPV in their lifetime. Studies point to the association between alcohol misuse by intimate male partners and violence against women. However, there has been no consideration for potential spatial variation or heterogeneity in this association. Using estimates from the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey Data, we employed geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis to examine spatial variations in the relationship between male partner’s alcohol misuse and IPV among women in Ghana. We fitted three models to assess the relationship using a step-wise approach. The first model has alcohol misuse as the only predictor, whereas the second model included other male partner characteristics, such as post-secondary education and employment status. The final introduced female characteristics as additional covariates. The result of the GWR analysis shows that the effect of alcohol misuse on IPV is elevated in the south-western part of Ghana. The findings suggest the potential influence of place-based or contextual factors on the association between alcohol misuse and women’s exposure to IPV.

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Greene ◽  
J. C. Kane ◽  
W. A. Tol

Background:Alcohol use is a well-documented risk factor for intimate partner violence (IPV); however, the majority of research comes from high-income countries.Methods:Using nationally representative data from 86 024 women that participated in the Demographic and Health Surveys, we evaluated the relationship between male partner alcohol use and experiencing IPV in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using multilevel mixed-effects models, we calculated the within-country, between-country, and contextual effects of alcohol use on IPV.Results:Prevalence of partner alcohol use and IPV ranged substantially across countries (3–62 and 11–60%, respectively). Partner alcohol use was associated with a significant increase in the odds of reporting IPV for all 14 countries included in this analysis. Furthermore, the relationship between alcohol use and IPV, although largely explained by partner alcohol use, was also attributable to overall prevalence of alcohol use in a given country. The partner alcohol use–IPV relationship was moderated by socioeconomic status (SES): among women with a partner who used alcohol those with lower SES had higher odds of experiencing IPV than women with higher SES.Conclusions:Results of this study suggest that partner alcohol use is a robust correlate of IPV in SSA; however, drinking norms may independently relate to IPV and confound the relationship between partner alcohol use and IPV. These findings motivate future research employing experimental and longitudinal designs to examine alcohol use as a modifiable risk factor of IPV and as a novel target for treatment and prevention research to reduce IPV in SSA.


2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa L. Beeble ◽  
Deborah Bybee ◽  
Cris M. Sullivan

While research has found that millions of children in the United States are exposed to their mothers being battered, and that many are themselves abused as well, little is known about the ways in which children are used by abusers to manipulate or harm their mothers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that perpetrators use children in a variety of ways to control and harm women; however, no studies to date have empirically examined the extent of this occurring. Therefore, the current study examined the extent to which survivors of abuse experienced this, as well as the conditions under which it occurred. Interviews were conducted with 156 women who had experienced recent intimate partner violence. Each of these women had at least one child between the ages of 5 and 12. Most women (88%) reported that their assailants had used their children against them in varying ways. Multiple variables were found to be related to this occurring, including the relationship between the assailant and the children, the extent of physical and emotional abuse used by the abuser against the woman, and the assailant's court-ordered visitation status. Findings point toward the complex situational conditions by which assailants use the children of their partners or ex-partners to continue the abuse, and the need for a great deal more research in this area.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 844-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam J. Alvarez ◽  
Sandra Oviedo Ramirez ◽  
Gabriel Frietze ◽  
Craig Field ◽  
Michael A. Zárate

Objective: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health concern that affects many Latinx couples. The present study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantitatively assess acculturation as a predictor of IPV among Latinxs and subgroup analyses to evaluate the effect size by gender and type of acculturation measure. Method: The meta-analysis implemented the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines to retrieve studies assessing the relationship between acculturation and intimate partner victimization among foreign-born and U.S.-born Latinx adults. A fixed effects model (FEM) and a random effects model (REM) were employed. Additional subgroup analyses examined the strength of the relationship by gender and type of acculturation measure. Results: The meta-analysis included 27 independent effect sizes across 21 studies. An REM yielded a weighted average correlation of .11 (95% confidence interval [.02, .20]). The strength of the correlation differed by scale and ranged from −.003 to .47. For both men and women, higher acculturation was associated with increased IPV. Conclusions: Our results yielded three important findings: (1) the overall effect of acculturation on IPV is relatively small, (2) acculturation differentially influences male-to-female and female-to-male partner violence, and (3) the strength of the correlation between acculturation and IPV differs by scale. This body of work provides evidence for the effect of acculturation on IPV, with potential implications for interventions targeting Latinxs.


2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Max ◽  
Dorothy P. Rice ◽  
Eric Finkelstein ◽  
Robert A. Bardwell ◽  
Steven Leadbetter

This study provides estimates of the economic cost of intimate partner violence perpetrated against women in the US, including expenditures for medical care and mental health services, and lost productivity from injury and premature death. The analysis uses national survey data, including the National Violence Against Women Survey and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, to estimate costs for 1995. Intimate partner violence against women cost $5.8 billion dollars (95% confidence interval: $3.9 to $7.7 billion) in 1995, including $320 million ($136 to $503 million) for rapes, $4.2 billion ($2.4 to $6.1 billion) for physical assault, $342 million ($235 to $449 million) for stalking, and $893 million ($840 to $946 million) for murders. Updated to 2003 dollars, costs would total over $8.3 billion. Intimate partner violence is costly in the US. The potential savings from efforts to reduce this violence are substantial. More comprehensive data are needed to refine cost estimates and monitor costs over time.


2021 ◽  
pp. 107780122110514
Author(s):  
Ainara Arnoso ◽  
Maitane Arnoso ◽  
Edurne Elgorriaga

The objective was to study the intercultural role of attitudes towards violence against women in the Moroccan immigrant population. A first study analyzes the relationship between sexism and intimate partner violence and the differences based on origin and sex. About 122 native Spanish people and Moroccan immigrants participated. Men and Moroccan immigrants had more sexist attitudes than women and native people, with no differences in intimate partner violence based on sex or origin. A second study using two focus groups with Moroccan immigrants showed the relevance of the traditional values of gender and culture of honor, religiosity, and the socio-economic context.


2021 ◽  
pp. 107780122110342
Author(s):  
Emma L. Backe ◽  
Edna Bosire ◽  
Emily Mendenhall

The intersecting issues of intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol abuse in South Africa are often characterized as “disasters.” Ethnographic research among women in Soweto demonstrates the different manifestations of IPV, perceptions of abuse, and coping mechanisms to manage harmful domestic relationships. Findings suggest a consistent relationship between excessive drinking patterns and IPV—most significantly, physical and emotional abuse—while indicating that domestic violence measures should include questions about stress. The authors also argue against pathologizing the relationship between IPV and alcohol abuse, to instead center the structured, sedimented ways that violence within the home has become a “normalized” disaster.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda L. Stein ◽  
Giao Q. Tran ◽  
Bonnie S. Fisher

Studies suggest that experience and expectations of intimate partner violence (IPV) among college women may be positively related. We investigated their association using modified versions of two standard measures: the Conflict Tactics Scale and the Multidimensional Emotional Abuse Scale. Five hundred and thirty-four college women completed each measure twice: once based on their partner’s actual behaviors and once based on what they expected a male partner would do in a relationship. Results demonstrated that IPV experience and IPV expectations are significantly and positively related. Results also showed that respondents expected more IPV than they reportedly experienced, suggesting that college women may believe that IPV occurs more frequently in others’ relationships than in their own. Findings suggest that behavioral interventions for IPV victims should address IPV expectations.


2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 414-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Lawson ◽  
Daniel F. Brossart

We examined whether hostile dominant interpersonal problems (HDIP), antisocial features, and borderline features mediated the relationship between attachment (anxiety or avoidance) and intimate partner violence (IPV) with a sample of 132 male partner abusers. We conducted two path analyses with avoidant attachment as the predictor in one model and anxious attachment as the predictor in a second model. In both models, HDIP, antisocial features, and borderline features were the mediators with IPV as the criterion. For both models, the attachment variable had statistically significant path values to the mediating variables. However, neither antisocial nor borderline features had statistically significant path values from the mediating variable to the criterion variable (IPV). Only HDIP had a statistically significant path value from the mediating variable to the criterion variable in both models. However, only the avoidant model produced a statistically significant specific indirect effect indicating that HDIP clearly mediated the relationship between attachment and IPV. Results suggest that partner abusive men with predominantly avoidant and, to a lesser degree, anxious attachment may be at increased risk for addressing conflicts in a coercive, controlling, and vengeful manner that is manifested in physical aggression toward a partner. Further, interpersonal constructs may be better measures of psychopathology and provide more relevant clinical targets than personality constructs with male partner abusers.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document