Is intimate partner violence vertically transmitted among women in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from demographic health surveys between 2010 and 2019

Oluwatobi Abel Alawode; Obasanjo Afolabi Bolarinwa; Julia Marie Hajjar; Stephen Okechukwu Chukwudeh; Sanni Yaya

doi:10.1186/s12939-023-02074-3

Is intimate partner violence vertically transmitted among women in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from demographic health surveys between 2010 and 2019

Int J Equity Health. 2023 Dec 15;22(1):262. doi: 10.1186/s12939-023-02074-3.

Authors

Oluwatobi Abel Alawode¹, Obasanjo Afolabi Bolarinwa^{2

3}, Julia Marie Hajjar⁴, Stephen Okechukwu Chukwudeh⁵, Sanni Yaya^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, Florida, USA.
² Department of Public Health, York St John University, London, UK. bolarinwaobasanjo@gmail.com.
³ Department of Demography and Population Studies, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. bolarinwaobasanjo@gmail.com.
⁴ Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁵ Department of Criminology and Security Studies, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti, Nigeria.
⁶ School of International Development and Global Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁷ The George Institute for Global Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.

Abstract

Background: Violence against women is a major human rights violation, and the continuous occurrence of this can have many implications for women's social and health outcomes. The experience of violence from an intimate partner could be more intriguing, especially if such women experienced their mother's intimate partner violence (IPV) issues. Thus, this study examined the vertical transmission of IPV among women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Methods: A total of 97,542 eligible women were drawn from 27 countries in SSA using a retrospective secondary dataset from Demographic Health Surveys conducted between 2010 and 2019. Multivariable analysis was employed to determine the association between the vertical transmission of IPV from mother to daughter and the covariates associated with IPV in SSA at p < 0.05.

Results: The results showed that 40% of the respondents had experienced lifetime IPV, whilst 25% of those women reported that their mothers experienced it in childhood in SSA. Country-specific variations showed the highest prevalence of IPV experienced in Sierra Leone (60%) and the lowest in Comoros (9%). Results from model 1 showed that women who reported that their mothers experienced IPV were found to be significantly more than two times more likely to have experienced any form of IPV compared to those whose mothers did not (aOR = 2.66; 95% CI: 2.59-2.74), after adjusting for cofounders in Model 2, the result still showed that women who reported that their mothers experienced IPV were found to be significantly more than two times more likely to have experienced any form of IPV compared to those whose mothers did not (aOR = 2.56; 95% CI: 2.48-2.63). On the other hand, women with higher-educated partners, women in rural areas, and those from female-headed households were less likely to experience IPV.

Conclusion: This study concluded that women whose mothers experienced IPV were more likely to have experienced IPV. Our study also identified that education, rural areas, and female-headed households were protective factors against experiencing IPV. To address the groups of women at higher risk for experiencing IPV, we recommend ensuring that girls complete their education to promote greater wealth and resources.

Keywords: DHS; Intergenerational transmission; Intimate partner Violence; Sub-Saharan Africa Vertical transmission; Women.

MeSH terms

Africa South of the Sahara / epidemiology
Demography
Female
Health Surveys
Humans
Intimate Partner Violence*
Prevalence
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Sexual Partners