Abstract
BackgroundYoung men’s involvement in fathering pregnancies has been substantially neglected in unintended pregnancy research. Gender norms give men substantial power and control over sexual encounters, suggesting that understanding men’s role is imperative. We tested the hypothesis that young, unmarried South African men who had perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) have a greater incidence of fathering pregnancies.MethodsThe data for this study were collected from 983 men aged 15 to 26 who participated in a 2-year community randomized controlled HIV prevention trial in the rural Eastern Cape. Multivariate Poisson models investigated the associations between baseline perpetration of IPV and fathering subsequent pregnancies, while controlling for age, number of sexual partners, socio-economic status, educational attainment, problematic alcohol use, exposure to the intervention, and time between interviews.ResultsOf the men in this study, 16.5% (n = 189) had made a girlfriend pregnant over two years of follow up. In addition, 39.1% had perpetrated physical or sexual intimate partner violence and 24.3% had done so more than once. Men who at baseline had perpetrated IPV in the previous year had an increased incidence of fathering, for a first perpetration in that year IRR 1.67 (95% CI 1.14-2.44) and among those who had also been previously violent, IRR 1.97 (95% CI 1.31-2.94). Those who had ever been violent, but not in the past year, did not have an elevated incidence. The incidence among men who had ever perpetrated physical abuse was less elevated than among those who had perpetrated physical and sexual violence IRR 1.64 (95% CI 1.18-2.29) versus IRR 2.59 (95% CI 1.64-4.10) indicating a dose response.ConclusionYoung men’s perpetration of partner violence is an important predictor of subsequently fathering a pregnancy. The explanation may lie with South African hegemonic masculinity, which valorizes control of women and displays of heterosexuality and virility, and compromises women’s reproductive choices.
Highlights
Young men’s involvement in fathering pregnancies has been substantially neglected in unintended pregnancy research
South African men aged 15 to 26 (n = 1,368) were recruited from 70 villages near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, South Africa to participate in a cluster randomized controlled trial of the Stepping Stones HIV prevention intervention [14]
Men who had last perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) over a year before the baseline were not significantly more likely to have fathered an incident pregnancy, while men who perpetrated IPV for the first time in the previous year had an increased incidence rate ratio of 1.67 and those who had perpetrated IPV both before and within the year prior to the baseline had an increased incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 1.97
Summary
Young men’s involvement in fathering pregnancies has been substantially neglected in unintended pregnancy research. To date only limited research with men has directly explored the question of whether men’s perpetration of intimate partner violence might be associated with fathering of pregnancies, whether wanted, unwanted, or unplanned. Men attending a community health service in Boston who reported perpetrating IPV in the past year were more likely to have fathered three or more children [5]. These limited findings are complemented by a broader body of research with women from a number of different settings, which suggests that women’s experience of intimate partner violence from men is associated with unwanted or unplanned pregnancy [7,8,9]
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