Intimate partners' violence in Southern Ethiopia : examining the prevalence and risk factors in the Sidama Zone
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Date
2011-01
Authors
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
The high level of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in many population groups in Ethiopia and the risk factors
associated with the practice is not well understood among scholars and decision makers. This study examined the
prevalence and risk factors associated with intimate partner violence in Sidama, a populous zone in Southern Ethiopia. A
combination of simple random and multistage sampling techniques were used to select 1094 households, comprising
women and men participants, for the field study. Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained using structured
questionnaire and focus group discussions. Household, women and husband characteristics were used as explanatory
variables while intimate partner violence served as the dependent variable. The study revealed that the prevalence of
intimate partners’ violence is high in the study population (ranging from 14.7 to 61.2%) with physical violence (beating,
causing physical damage and slapping) accounting for the largest share of the overall abusive acts. The predicted
probability, using logistic regression, shows that literate women living with alcoholic husbands, women engaged in gainful
income generating activities and women living in food insecure households were more susceptible to intimate partner
violence. The study concluded that while the main determinants are generally embedded in the socio-cultural practices
and attitudes of the community, there are certain individual and household level variables which significantly affect its
likely occurrence.
Description
Peer reviewed article published under Inkanyiso, Volume 3, Issue 2, Jan 2011, p. 101 - 110
Keywords
Intimate Partner, Violence, Southern Ethiopia., Alcohol Abuse
Citation
Regassa, N., 2011. Intimate partners’ violence in Southern Ethiopia: Examining the prevalence and risk factors in the Sidama Zone. Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(2), pp.101-110.