Factors associated with gender-based violence in couples during confinement by COVID-19 in Veracruz

Abstract

Abstract Background In the world, about a third of women who have had a relationship have suffered some type of violence and Veracruz city in Mexico presented 83 femicides, 519 assaults and 686 disappearances, occupying the 2nd place national in this field. Objetives To determinate the factors associated with gender violence during confinement by covid-19 Methods A cross-sectional, prospective, analytical and observational study was conducted between August - December 2021. Women residents of Veracruz who have or have had a relationship in the last year were included. Violence was quantified by applying to through Google Forms® assessment inventory of mistreatment of women by their couple (APCM) with cronbach’s alpha of 0.94; this instrument takes into account physical and psychological violence. SPSS v22 software was used for data analysis, X2 test with Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) and MannWhitney U test. Results A total of 740 women participated, with a mean age of 28.1±12.07, 87.8% heterosexual. Gender, sexual preference, educational level, witnessing violence in the family or in relationships with friends obtained values of p > 0.05 to suffer violence, while age was higher for those who suffered gender-based violence (28.8 vs 24.2) and the associated factors (OR/CI95%) were being a housewife (3.1/1.4-6.9), being a student (0.5/0.3-0.8), being married (1.8/1.05-3.3), having a boyfriend (0.3/0.2-0.5), having suffered violence in a previous relationship (1.6/1.06-2.5), identifying gender-based violence correctly or perceived (0.2/0.1-0.4), having suffered gender-based violence at some time by their partner in their last relationship (15.9/5.0-50.9) (p < 0.05) Conclusions Being a housewife, being married, having suffered violence in previous relationships and in the last relationship increase the risk of gender violence, while being a student, having a boyfriend and knowing the concept of gender violence decrease the probability of suffering it. Key messages • We must work on a deconstruction of ideas that allows women with risk factors for violence with their couples to identify it without fear of not meeting the socio-cultural expectations assigned to it. • Including a woman’s partner within the structure of prevention of violence against women must be fundamental to promote an environment free of violence.