The independent contribution of individual-, neighbourhood-, and country-level socioeconomic position on attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa: A multilevel model of direct and moderating effects
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Date
2009
Authors
Abdulrahman Uthman, Olalekan
Moradi, Tahereh
Lawoko, Stephen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Social science & medicine
Abstract
We examined associations between country, neighbourhood, and individual socioeconomic position
(SEP) and attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW).We applied multivariable
multilevel logistic regression analysis on Demographic and Health Survey data for 165,983 women and
68,501 men nested within 7465 communities from 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa collected between
2003 and 2007. Contrary to expectation women were 34% more likely to justify IPVAW than men. We
found that sex moderates associations of individual-, neighbourhood-, and country-level SEP with
attitudes towards IPVAW. There was a significant positive interaction effect between sex and education
attainment; women with no education were more likely to justify IPVAW than men with no education.
Negative sex interaction with household wealth status indicates that differences in attitude are less
pronounced among women. Unemployed men were more likely to justify IPVAW. Interaction effects
indicate that the association of neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage with attitudes was more
pronounced among women than among men. The association of country-level SEP with attitudes
towards IPVWA was inconclusive. There was some evidence that neighbourhood modified the association
between individual SEP and attitudes towards IPV. Also, there was cross-level interaction between
country and neighbourhood SEP. Neighbourhood and individual SEP were independently associated with
attitudes towards IPVAW. The relationship with country-level SEP was inconclusive. The findings
underscore the need to implement public health prevention/intervention strategies not only at the level
of individual SEP but also at the neighbourhood level.
Description
Keywords
Intimate partner violence, Neighbourhood, Sub-Saharan Africa, Socioeconomic position, Women, Gender multilevel analysis
Citation
Uthman, O. A., Moradi, T., & Lawoko, S. (2009). The independent contribution of individual-, neighbourhood-, and country-level socioeconomic position on attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa: a multilevel model of direct and moderating effects. Social science & medicine, 68(10), 1801-1809. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.02.045