Abstract
BackgroundGlobally, one in three women experienced domestic violence. Alike the scenario observed in India, and a very few studies talk about violence and its consequences on women's health. Hence, the purpose of this study is to access the level of various types of spousal violence in India and to understand the association between physical, sexual and emotional violence against ever-married women by their husbands. The study further examines the consequences of spousal violence on women's health in terms of adverse pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health in India.MethodsThe study uses secondary data from National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4, 2015–16). The analysis was based on a sample of ever-married women aged 15–49 years. Bivariate descriptive analysis and multiple regression analyses have been carried out to understand the association between spousal violence and its consequences on women's health.ResultsThe study finds that the physical, sexual and emotional violence experienced by ever-married women in India are 29.8%, 13.8% and 7.0%, respectively. Further, the physical and sexual violence experienced by women have a significant association with an unwanted pregnancy, abortion, miscarriages and ever had termination of pregnancies. The regression analysis shows that violence by sexual partners among battered women increased the likelihood of unwanted pregnancy. Similarly, abortion and ever had a termination of pregnancies are also adversely affected by partner violence. Further, the risk of sexually transmitted infection increases 77% by sexual violence and 44% by emotional violence among battered women. Also, Sexual violence substantially increases the risk of prolonged labour during pregnancy.ConclusionThis study revealed that one in three women experiencing violence by their husband and also it is evident that various forms of spousal violence adversely affect pregnancies outcomes and reproductive health among battered women compared to not battered.
Highlights
A multi-country study done by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that physical violence rangedBramhankar and Reshmi BMC Women’s Health (2021) 21:382 married life [2]
It is evident from the table that, in India, 29.8% of the women reported physical violence, 13.8% reported emotional violence and 7% reported sexual violence and the prevalence of any of these violence was 33.3%
The present study indicates that women who experienced any physical, sexual and emotional violence are more likely to have abortion, which is on the same line with other studies conducted in different regions [13, 14, 29]; the risk of unintended pregnancies is 1.72 times higher among women who experienced any sexual spousal violence, and this results is mentioned in previous studies [5, 30, 31]
Summary
A multi-country study done by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that physical violence rangedBramhankar and Reshmi BMC Women’s Health (2021) 21:382 married life [2]. Another study of pregnant women of the postpartum period in Peru found that 65% of the pregnancies were unintended. Those who experienced any life abuse (physical or sexual) had a higher risk of unintended pregnancies [5]. Alike the scenario observed in India, and a very few studies talk about violence and its consequences on women’s health. The purpose of this study is to access the level of various types of spousal violence in India and to understand the association between physical, sexual and emotional violence against ever-married women by their husbands. The study further examines the consequences of spousal violence on women’s health in terms of adverse pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health in India
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