Associations between conflict violence, community violence, and household violence exposures among females in Colombia

Lindsay Stark; Melissa Meinhart; Ilana Seff; Alli Gillespie; Arturo Harker Roa; Andrés Villaveces

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106341

Associations between conflict violence, community violence, and household violence exposures among females in Colombia

Child Abuse Negl. 2023 Jul 20:106341. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106341. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Lindsay Stark¹, Melissa Meinhart², Ilana Seff³, Alli Gillespie³, Arturo Harker Roa⁴, Andrés Villaveces⁵

Affiliations

¹ Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA. Electronic address: lindsaystark@wustl.edu.
² National Coalition of Independent Scholars, USA.
³ Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁴ School of Government at the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
⁵ United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA.

PMID: 37481346
PMCID: PMC10896229 (available on 2025-01-20)
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106341

Abstract

Background: Exposure to protracted public violence is increasingly referenced as a risk factor for domestic violence, but limited quantitative evidence has demonstrated this association to date. This study analyzes associations in Colombia between lifetime experiences of external violence, including the Colombia civil conflict and community interpersonal violence, and experiences of household violence, including intimate partner and caregiver violence.

Methods and findings: We use the 2018 Colombia Violence Against Children and Youth Survey, employing multi-variable logistic regressions to determine the association between exposure to external violence and household violence victimization for females aged 13-24 (n = 1406). Adjusted models controlled for age, ever married, currently in school, and past 12-mo work experience and standard errors were adjusted to account for the multi-stage sampling design. Females who had ever witnessed community violence (39.23 %) faced increased risks of experiencing both physical violence (aOR = 2.81; 95 % CIs: 1.54-5.14; p < 0.001) and emotional violence (aOR: 2.48; 95 % CIs: 1.29-4.75; p < 0.01) from caregivers. Females who had ever witnessed internal conflict (15.99 %) had a greater likelihood of experiencing emotional violence from caregivers (aOR: 5.24; 95 % CIs: 1.86-14.76; p < 0.01) as well as physical violence perpetrated by intimate partners (aOR: 3.31; 95 % CIs: 1.22-8.95; p < 0.05).

Conclusions: This study demonstrates the connection between exposure to community violence and internal conflict and household violence victimization among adolescent and young adult females in Colombia. Findings build the evidence base for more holistic and coordinated policy and programming efforts and foreground the need to identify and support vulnerable populations across socioecological domains in contexts of chronic violence.

Keywords: Caregiver violence; Colombia; Emotional violence; IPV; Violence; Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS); Women and girls.

Grants and funding

CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHS/United States