Gender-based violence and socioeconomic inequalities: Does living in more deprived neighbourhoods increase women鈥檚 risk of intimate partner violence?

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• 作者：Ligia Kiss^a ; ^{Ligia.Kiss@lshtm.ac.uk} ; Lilia Blima Schraiber^b ; Lori Heise^a ; Cathy Zimmerman^a ; Nelson Gouveia^b ; Charlotte Watts^a
• 关键词：Intimate partner violence ; Women ; Socioeconomic factors ; Poverty ; Multilevel analysis ; Developing countries ; Brazil ; Gender ; Neighbourhoods
• 刊名：Social Science and Medicine
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：242_02779536
• 类别：med
• 出版时间：April, 2012
• 卷：74
• 期：8
• 页码：1172-1179
• 文件大小：769 K

摘要

This study investigates the influence of neighbourhood socioeconomic conditions on women鈥檚 likelihood of experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Data from 940 women who were interviewed as part of the WHO multi-country study on women鈥檚 health and domestic violence against women, and census data for Sao Paulo City, were analyzed using multilevel regression techniques. A neighbourhood socioeconomic-level scale was created, and proxies for the socioeconomic positions of the couple were included. Other individual level variables included factors related to partner鈥檚 behaviour and women鈥檚 experiences and attitudes.

Women鈥檚 risk of IPV did not vary across neighbourhoods in Sao Paulo nor was it influenced by her individual socioeconomic characteristics. However, women in the middle range of the socioeconomic scale were significantly more likely to report having experienced violence by a partner. Partner behaviours such as excessive alcohol use, controlling behaviour and multiple sexual partnerships were important predictors of IPV. A women鈥檚 likelihood of IPV also increased if either her mother had experienced IPV or if she used alcohol excessively.

These findings suggest that although the characteristics of people living in deprived neighbourhoods may influence the probability that a woman will experience IPV, higher-order contextual dynamics do not seem to affect this risk. While poverty reduction will improve the lives of individuals in many ways, strategies to reduce IPV should prioritize shifting norms that reinforce certain negative male behaviours.