Intimate partner violence types and symptoms of common mental disorders in a rural community of Chiapas, Mexico: Implications for global mental-health practice

PLoS One. 2021 Sep 2;16(9):e0256850. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256850. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

This paper examines the scope and characteristics of male-to-female intimate partner violence in southern rural Chiapas, Mexico, and its association with depression and anxiety symptoms, highlighting the role of partner controlling behaviors. Participants were selected by random sampling. One-hundred and forty-one women >15 years participated in the study. Data was obtained through an adapted version of the National Survey of the Dynamics of Household Relationships (ENDIREH) intimate partner violence scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for depression symptoms and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 for anxiety symptoms. Quantitative results indicated a 66.4% lifetime prevalence of physical and/or sexual IPV among ever-partnered women 15 years or older (95% CI: 57.5-74.5%). Forty percent (95% CI: 32.0-49.7%) of them reported having experienced physical and/or sexual violence with high partner control (HC-IPV), and 25.8% (95% CI: 18.5-34.3%) reported having experienced physical and/or sexual violence with low or moderate partner control (MC-IPV). Lifetime experience of HC-IPV was significantly associated with moderate-severe depression symptoms (RR = 5.8) and suicidality (RR = 2.08). While partner alcohol abuse was associated with a 3.06 times higher risk of lifetime physical and/or sexual IPV, 30.9% of women mentioned that their partners were never drunk when violence occurred. Interestingly, high partner alcohol abuse was more frequent among women who reported HC-IPV compared to MC-IPV. Implications for global mental health practice are discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alcoholism / epidemiology*
  • Anxiety / epidemiology*
  • Anxiety Disorders / epidemiology*
  • Comorbidity
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Depression / epidemiology*
  • Depressive Disorder / epidemiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Health*
  • Mexico / epidemiology
  • Middle Aged
  • Prevalence
  • Risk Factors
  • Rural Population*
  • Sex Offenses / psychology
  • Sexual Partners / psychology
  • Spouse Abuse / psychology*
  • Young Adult

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.14776365.v1

Grants and funding

MA received funding from the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University and the Abundance Fund, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia and Consejo de Ciencia y Tecnologia del Estado de Chiapas. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of these institutions and its affiliated academic health care centers. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.