Intimate Partner Violence, Relationship Power Inequity and the Role of Sexual and Social Risk Factors in the Production of Violence among Young Women Who Have Multiple Sexual Partners in a Peri-Urban Setting in South Africa

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 23;10(11):e0139430. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139430. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Introduction: This paper aims to assess the extent and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV), explore relationship power inequity and the role of sexual and social risk factors in the production of violence among young women aged 16-24 reporting more than one partner in the past three months in a peri-urban setting in the Western Cape, South Africa. Recent estimates suggest that every six hours a woman is killed by an intimate partner in South Africa, making IPV a leading public health problem in the country. While there is mounting evidence that levels of IPV are high in peri-urban settings in South Africa, not much is known about how it manifests among women who engage in concomitantly high HIV risk behaviours such as multiple sexual partnering, transactional sex and age mixing. We know even less about how such women negotiate power and control if exposed to violence in such sexual networks.

Methods: Two hundred and fifty nine women with multiple sexual partners, residing in a predominantly Black peri-urban community in the Western Cape, South Africa, were recruited into a bio-behavioural survey using Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS). After the survey, focus group discussions and individual interviews were conducted among young women and men to understand the underlying factors informing their risk behaviours and experiences of violence.

Findings: 86% of the young women experienced IPV in the past 12 months. Sexual IPV was significantly correlated with sex with a man who was 5 years or older than the index female partner (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.0-3.2) and transactional sex with most recent casual partner (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-3.8). Predictably, women experienced high levels of relationship power inequity. However, they also identified areas in their controlling relationships where they shared decision making power.

Discussion: Levels of IPV among young women with multiple sexual partners were much higher than what is reported among women in the general population and shown to be associated with sexual risk taking. Interventions targeting IPV need to address sexual risk taking as it heightens vulnerability to violence.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Cities*
  • Demography
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intimate Partner Violence / statistics & numerical data*
  • Male
  • Risk Factors
  • Risk-Taking*
  • Sexual Partners*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • South Africa / epidemiology
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Health Economics HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at the University of Kwazulu Natal funded the development and implementation of the qualitative study. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded the data collection activities of the quantitative component and the Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) funded the manuscript preparation activities. The IDRC/HEARD funders contributed insights to the interpretation of the findings of the qualitative component of this manuscript, through two symposiums that were held wherein the lead author shared the preliminary findings of the study with the funders and other donor recipients who were participants at the symposiums. The IDRC/HEARD funders had no other role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The CDC and the ARTRP had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.