Male Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Wife Beating: A Multi-Country Study in South Asia

Abstract

This study has aimed to address the gaps in knowledge about male adolescents and their attitudes toward wife beating in multi-country study in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. The study used secondary data generated from nationally representative samples of male adolescents (aged 15-19 years) in the demographic and health surveys data in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. These were household surveys using structured questionnaires, with 275 boys in Bangladesh, 13,078 boys in India, and 939 boys in Nepal. Chi-square tests and logistic regressions were used to assess the associations. In Bangladesh, 42% of 275 respondents had justified wife beating; in India, 51% of 13,078 male adolescents had supported wife beating; and in Nepal, 28% of 939 respondents had supported wife abuse. Individual-level factors, such as rural residency, low educational attainment, low economic status, being unemployed, and having a history of family violence, were positively associated with the justification of wife abuse. This multi-country study indicates a general trend of male adolescents' strong supportive attitude toward wife beating, and hence may suggest that policy makers can specifically target young groups of the population for various interventions for reducing violence against women.