Women's experience of intimate partner violence in Haiti

Abstract

This study examined individual, partner, and community characteristics associated with the occurrence of intimate partner violence among ever-married women of reproductive age, using data from the 2000 Haiti Demographic and Health Survey. Separate logistic regressions were analyzed to assess women's risks of experiencing emotional, physical and sexual violence and multiple forms of intimate partner violence in the past 12 months. Twenty-nine percent of women in the sample experienced some form of intimate partner violence in the past 12 months, with 13 percent having experienced at least two different forms of violence. Significant positive associations with all forms of violence were found for lack of completion of primary school, history of violence exposure in women's families of origin either through witnessing violence between parents while growing up or direct experience of physical violence perpetrated by family members, partner's jealousy, partner's need for control, partner's history of drunkenness, and female-dominated financial decision-making. Significant positive associations were found between men's physical abuse of children at the community level and women's risk of experiencing emotional and physical violence. Neighborhood poverty and male unemployment, number of children living at home, women's attitudinal acceptance of wife beating, and male-dominated financial decision-making were additional risk factors for sexual violence. Women's economic independence was a protective factor for emotional and physical violence, while relationship quality was protective for all forms of violence and multiple victimizations.