The independent contribution of individual-, neighbourhood-, and country-level socioeconomic position on attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa: A multilevel model of direct and moderating effects
Section snippets
Background
Studies from Africa and rest of the world document intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) as a serious public health issue, conferring immediate and long-term threats to women's health (Afifi et al., 2008, Cleary et al., 2008, Dunkle et al., 2006, Fonck et al., 2005, Jewkes et al., 2006, Krishnan et al., 2008, Sarkar, 2008, Shuman et al., 2008, Silverman et al., 2008). Researchers and policy makers have increasingly cited gender-based violence as essential determinants of women's
Conceptual framework
Family violence researchers often draw upon an ecological perspective to understand partner abuse (Belsky, 1980, Heise, 1998). This framework conceptualizes violence as a multifaceted phenomenon grounded in an interplay of individual, family, community, and societal factors (Heise, 1998). The framework takes into account the different levels of societal organization and their role in influencing attitudes towards IPVAW. An individual resides in a household unit, which in turn is situated within
Data
This study used data from 17 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted between 2003 and 2007 in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe) available as of November 2008. Methods and data collection procedures have been published elsewhere (DHS, 2008). Briefly, DHS surveys are implemented by respective national institutions and Macro International Inc.,
Sample characteristics
The countries, year of data collection, final sample and number of communities sampled per country, and average number of respondents per communities are listed in Table 1. The median number of communities sampled was 405 ranging from 275 in Swaziland to 750 in Benin. The median number of respondents per community varied from 24 in Lesotho to 44 in Liberia. The percentage of respondents endorsing IPVAW in at least one situation varied across countries and sex. Women were more likely to justify
Discussion
Drawing upon multilevel perspectives, in this paper we have offered an alternative to more traditional ways of thinking about the factors associated with attitudes towards IPVAW at the population level. In particular, we have demonstrated that individual and neighbourhood context in which people live is associated with the attitude of individuals even after taking into account individual-level SEP. As hypothesized, we found that sex moderates associations of individual-, community-, and
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Measure DHS for providing them with the DHS data. The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers for critical review of an earlier version of this manuscript.
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