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This article assesses the prevalence and risk factors of domestic violence in India. The study uses the 2005-2006 India National Family Health Survey-III (NFHS-III) and focuses on the 69,484 ever-married women ages 15 to 49 from all regions, who were administered the domestic violence module. The results show that 31% of respondents experienced physical violence in the past 12 months before the survey; the corresponding figure for sexual violence was 8.3%. The multivariate logistic regression results show key determinants of physical and sexual violence. Some of the most salient findings are that urban residence, household wealth, affiliation with Christian religious denominations, wife's age at marriage and education are associated with lower risk of physical and sexual violence. In contrast, being employed and being the wife of a man who drank alcohol increased the odds of experiencing both physical and sexual violence. Moreover, respondents who believed that wife-beating was justified under certain circumstances were more likely to experience domestic violence. These results and significant regional differences observed in this study suggest that gender role conditioning and cultural norms both contribute to domestic violence. Interventions, therefore, need to go beyond the institutional and legal levels to include cultural capital, which addresses partner and relationship issues. (Contains 4 tables.)

Intimate partner violence among married women in Kenya that includes physical abuse, sexual abuse and life threatening violence is discussed. It is observed that ethnicity and cultural norms played an important role in gender relations and wife abuse in Kenya.

Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 1800 Main Building, Austin, TX, 78712, U.S.A. Journal of Asian and African Studies Vol.34(1999) pp.210-215 [Research Communication] Using data from the 1980 [...]

Edited by Gilbert Herdt. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. 1997. YANYI K. DJAMBA University of Texas at Austin While they were still investigating the determinants of fertility and its [...]

Over the last three decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo (henceforth DRC) has registered negative economic growth. During the same period the population has grown at an annual rate of three per cent. This combination of negative economic growth and rising population growth has led to numerous social and economic problems. To cope with these problems, families have developed several survival strategies, including male migration to neighbouring countries in search of temporary work. Using qualitative and quantitative data from a 1998 study of married women, this article suggests that male migration increased female status. However, wives often reported conflicts with their in-laws, were overwhelmed by family responsibilities, had difficulties raising children and feared that their husbands might acquire HIV from other women or marry at their place of destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]