Drivers of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Three Refugee Camps

Violence Against Women. 2018 Mar;24(3):286-306. doi: 10.1177/1077801216689163. Epub 2017 Feb 19.

Abstract

This qualitative study examined the "drivers" of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in displacement to identify protective factors and patterns of risk. Qualitative data were collected in three refugee camps in South Sudan, Kenya, and Iraq ( N = 284). Findings revealed interrelated factors that triggered and perpetuated IPV: gendered social norms and roles, destabilization of gender norms and roles, men's substance use, women's separation from family, and rapid remarriages and forced marriages. These factors paint a picture of individual, family, community and societal processes that exacerbate women's risk of IPV in extreme conditions created by displacement. Implications for policy and practice are indicated.

Keywords: displacement; domestic violence; qualitative research.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations*
  • Intimate Partner Violence / ethnology
  • Intimate Partner Violence / psychology*
  • Iraq / ethnology
  • Kenya / ethnology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Qualitative Research
  • Refugee Camps*
  • Risk Factors
  • Sexual Behavior
  • Social Norms / ethnology
  • South Sudan / ethnology