Partners’ controlling behaviors and intimate partner sexual violence among married women in Uganda

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Date
2015Author
Ojiambo Wandera, Stephen
Kwagala, Betty
Ndugga, Patricia
Kabagenyi, Allen
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Show full item recordAbstract
Studies on the association between partners’ controlling behaviors and intimate partner sexual
violence (IPSV) in Uganda are limited. The aim of this paper was to investigate the association between IPSV and
partners’ controlling behaviors among married women in Uganda.
Methods: We used the 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) data, and selected a weighted
sample of 1,307 women who were in a union, out of those considered for the domestic violence module. We
used chi-squared tests and multivariable logistic regressions to investigate the factors associated with IPSV, including
partners’ controlling behaviors.
Results: More than a quarter (27%) of women who were in a union in Uganda reported IPSV. The odds of reporting IPSV
were higher among women whose partners were jealous if they talked with other men (OR = 1.81; 95% CI: 1.22-2.68),
if their partners accused them of unfaithfulness (OR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.03-2.19) and if their partners did not permit them to
meet with female friends (OR = 1.63; 95% CI: 1.11-2.39). The odds of IPSV were also higher among women whose partners
tried to limit contact with their family (OR = 1.73; 95% CI: 1.11-2.67) and often got drunk (OR = 1.80; 95% CI: 1.15-2.81).
Finally, women who were sometimes or often afraid of their partners (OR = 1.78; 95% CI: 1.21-2.60 and OR = 1.56; 95%
CI: 1.04-2.40 respectively) were more likely to report IPSV.
Conclusion: In Uganda, women’s socio-economic and demographic background and empowerment had no mitigating
effect on IPSV in the face of their partners’ dysfunctional behaviors. Interventions addressing IPSV should place more
emphasis on reducing partners’ controlling behaviors and the prevention of problem drinking.
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- Medical and Health Sciences [3670]