585544 research-article2015
JIVXXX10.1177/0886260515585544Journal of Interpersonal ViolenceMurshid
Article
Men’s Report of Domestic Violence Perpetration in Bangladesh: Correlates From a Nationally Representative Survey
Journal of Interpersonal Violence 1–18 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0886260515585544 jiv.sagepub.com
Nadine Shaanta Murshid, PhD1
Abstract This study provides an examination of the antecedents of domestic violence perpetration among a nationally representative sample of men in Bangladesh using an ecological model. Secondary analysis of survey data from nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey is used to examine potential antecedents of perpetration of domestic violence in a sample of 3,371 ever-married men between the ages of 15 and 54 years. Outcome measure is perpetration of domestic violence as measured by a modified Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), and predictor variables include maternal domestic violence, egalitarianism, marital age, number of household members, wealth index, marital duration, and demographic variables. Men who reported maternal domestic violence had 0.13 greater probability of perpetrating domestic violence compared with men who did not report maternal domestic violence, men who were egalitarian had 0.04 greater probability of perpetrating domestic violence compared with men who were not egalitarian, men in larger households were less likely to report domestic violence. At the same time, the probability of domestic violence perpetration was 0.07 smaller for men who were married at age 36 years 1University
at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA
Corresponding Author: Nadine Shaanta Murshid, School of Social Work, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA. Email: [email protected]
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
2
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
and older, as compared with men who were married between the ages of 16 and 20 years, as well as men who were married for more than 5 years when compared with men married for 0 to 4 years. Finally, the probability of domestic violence perpetration was 0.17 smaller for men who were married between the ages of 21 and 25 years and 0.10 smaller for men married between the ages of 26 and 35 years, compared with men who married below the legal marital age of 21. This study provides support for the use of an ecological model to explain domestic violence perpetration in the context of Bangladesh to suggest a multipronged holistic effort to address this insidious social problem and prevent its intergenerational transmission. Keywords domestic violence perpetration, Bangladesh, ecological model Data from nationally representative surveys and qualitative studies using a range of study methodology indicate that domestic violence directly affects 25% to 72% women in Bangladesh (Bates, Schuler, Islam, & Islam, 2004; Hadi, 2000; Khan, Rob, & Hossain, 2000; Koenig, Ahmed, Hossain, & Mozumder, 2003; Murshid, Akincigil, & Zippay, 2015; Schuler, Hashemi, Riley, & Akhter, 1996; Steele, Amin, & Naved, 2001). Given the fairly recent attention that domestic violence has received from a policy level—it was only in 2010 that the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act was passed in parliament—little is known about domestic violence perpetration by men in Bangladesh. Previous studies based primarily on samples of women in Bangladesh indicate that age, marital age, educational attainment, income, access to resources, autonomy, and decision-making power may be associated with domestic violence in Bangladesh (Ahmed, 2005; Amin, 1998; Bates et al., 2004; Hashemi, Schuler, & Riley, 1996; Kabeer, 2001; Koenig et al., 2003; Mizan, 1993; Naved & Persson, 2005; Naved et al., 2006; Naved & Persson, 2010; Rahman et al., 2011; Rahman et al., 2012; O’Donnell, Smith, & Madison, 2002; Sambisa, Angeles, Lance, Naved, & Thornton, 2011; Schuler et al., 2008; Schuler et al., 2011; Schuler et al., 2013). Indeed, there is a lack of representative studies that assess men’s report of domestic violence perpetration. In the current study, a nationally representative data set, the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2007, is used to examine the antecedents of domestic violence perpetration using an ecological framework. Studies from other countries, particularly the United States, indicate a host of individual, relational, and situational factors that contribute to
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
3
Murshid
domestic violence perpetration including mental health issues, relationship quality, and poverty (Tolan, Gorman-Smith, & Henry, 2006). The ecological framework is modified and contextualized to Bangladesh to capture culturally appropriate individual, relational, and situational factors that may be associated with domestic violence perpetration in Bangladesh.
Theoretical Framework The ecological framework, when applied to domestic violence, identifies individual characteristics such as history of violence victimization, relational factors such as relationship quality, and situational and contextual factors such as socioeconomic indicators as antecedents of domestic violence perpetration (Capaldi & Gorman-Smith, 2003; Heise, 1998; Tolan et al., 2006). In this study, the ecological model is contextualized to represent factors that pertain to Bangladesh. The study also tests the situational or contextual factors for association with domestic violence that include number of household members given patriarchal structure of family formation and care, level of education, and wealth index scores. In the absence of questions on marital quality and felt emotions, this study uses marital age and marital duration as indicators of relational factors that may affect relational behaviors such as domestic violence. In terms of individual-level indicators, this study uses maternal domestic violence and egalitarian view of women as indicators of personal states that may increase the risk for domestic violence perpetration. It is thus suggested that wealth, number of household members, and higher levels of education prevent men from perpetrating domestic violence. It is also suggested that domestic violence perpetration is more likely when men get married early and during the early years of marriage. At the same time, maternal domestic violence increases the odds of perpetrating domestic violence, whereas having an egalitarian view of women decrease the odds of men perpetrating domestic violence.
Method Data Data from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) from the National Institute for Population Research and Training of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Bangladesh were used in this study. The BDHS 2007 surveyed 10,400 households in which 3,771 ever-married men between the ages of 15 and 54 years were interviewed. The term “ever-married”
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
4
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
implies that respondents were married at least once in their lifetime. The BDHS 2007 used sampling frame based on enumeration areas identified by the 2001 Population Census of Bangladesh to produce nationally representative estimates for indicators for the entire nation, including urban and rural areas, and for each of the six major divisions of Bangladesh. A two stage stratified sampling method was used to identify a list of households and individuals. In the current study, we present a representative sample of currently married men aged 15 to 54 years, who responded to all questions on domestic violence, maternal domestic violence, and demographic variables to derive a sample size of 3,371.
Outcome Measure: Domestic Violence Perpetration Domestic violence is the dependent variable of interest in this study. In BDHS 2007, domestic violence was measured with a shortened form of the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) based on the battery of questions first created by Straus (1979) that asked respondents if they ever committed a number of violent acts that constituted physical and sexual violence. The shortened CTS included the following items: (a) pushing, shaking, or throwing an object; (b) slapping; (c) pulling hair or twisting an arm; (d) punching or hitting with a fist or something harmful; (e) kicking or dragging; (f) choking or burning; (g) threatening or attacking with a knife or gun; and (h) physically forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him even when she did not want to in the last 12 months. A dichotomous variable for domestic violence was created to reflect experience of domestic violence in which men were deemed to have used violence against their wives if they said yes to any of the items in the shortened CTS. The Cronbach’s alpha of the measure was found to be 0.79 in the current study.
Independent Variables Situational factors Number of household members. Respondents indicated the number of household members they had, including children, parents, and extended family members. The number of household members was grouped into 1 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 15, and more than 16 to account for large family sizes that mark South Asian families in a joint-family structure. This variable was used in its categorical form. Wealth index. The BDHS used a “wealth index” as an indicator of economic status. The BDHS index was constructed from data on household
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
5
Murshid
assets, including ownership of durable goods (such as televisions and bicycles) and dwelling characteristics (such as source of drinking water, sanitation facilities, and construction materials). For this study, the original wealth index constructed by BDHS was used such that 1 = poorest, 2 = poor, 3 = middle, 4 = rich, 5 = richest. Respondent educational attainment. Respondents indicated the highest level of education they received to fall under one the following four categories: no education, primary education, secondary education, and higher. This variable was used in its categorical form. Relational factors Marital age. Respondents indicated the age at which they first got married. This variable was grouped into 12 to 20 years to account for marriage before the legal age of 21 in Bangladesh, and 21 to 25, 26 to 35, and 36+ years. This variable was used in its categorical form. Marital duration. Respondents indicated how long they were married for. This variable was categorized into 0 to 4, 5 to 9, 10 to 14, 15 to 19, 20 to 24, 25 to 29, and 30+. Four-year gaps were maintained to account for differences due to milestone anniversaries such as the 5-year mark and the 10-year mark. Individual factors Maternal domestic violence. This single-item scale was based on responses to the question: Did your father beat your mother? This dichotomous variable was coded as “yes” = 1 and “no” = 0. Egalitarianism. Whether respondents were egalitarian or not was assessed by two questions from the BDHS: (a) Should married women be allowed to work outside the house? (b) Who makes decisions on wife’s earnings? Respondents who said women should be allowed to work outside the house and responded that their wives make decisions regarding spending her earnings either by herself or in consultation with him were considered egalitarian, coded as “yes” = 1. In other words, respondents had to say that women are allowed to work outside the house as well as indicate that their wives had a say in decisions about their earnings to be considered egalitarian. If they chose one but not the other, they were not considered egalitarian. Individuals who said married women should not be allowed to work outside the house or said they made all decisions about spending their wives’ earnings were not considered to be egalitarian, coded “no” = 0.
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
6
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Age. Respondents indicated their age in number of years, which was grouped for the purposes of this study into 16 to 20, 21 to 25, 26 to 35, and 36+ years and used in its categorical form.
Statistical Analysis Univariate descriptive statistics were calculated for the key dependent variable, domestic violence perpetration, and independent variables maternal domestic violence, egalitarianism, and demographic characteristics to describe the study population. The bivariate associations between the independent variables and domestic violence perpetration were calculated using Chi-square tests. Logistic regression was used to analyze the binary value of domestic violence perpetration in one fully adjusted model. All covariates were simultaneously inserted into the logistic regression model to generate estimated beta coefficients and marginal effects. In the bivariate and multivariate analyses, survey techniques in Stata version 13.0 (StataCorp LP, College Station, Texas) were used to account for complex sampling design of the BDHS while calculating the standard errors. In all analyses, the significance level was set at p
JIVXXX10.1177/0886260515585544Journal of Interpersonal ViolenceMurshid
Article
Men’s Report of Domestic Violence Perpetration in Bangladesh: Correlates From a Nationally Representative Survey
Journal of Interpersonal Violence 1–18 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0886260515585544 jiv.sagepub.com
Nadine Shaanta Murshid, PhD1
Abstract This study provides an examination of the antecedents of domestic violence perpetration among a nationally representative sample of men in Bangladesh using an ecological model. Secondary analysis of survey data from nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey is used to examine potential antecedents of perpetration of domestic violence in a sample of 3,371 ever-married men between the ages of 15 and 54 years. Outcome measure is perpetration of domestic violence as measured by a modified Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), and predictor variables include maternal domestic violence, egalitarianism, marital age, number of household members, wealth index, marital duration, and demographic variables. Men who reported maternal domestic violence had 0.13 greater probability of perpetrating domestic violence compared with men who did not report maternal domestic violence, men who were egalitarian had 0.04 greater probability of perpetrating domestic violence compared with men who were not egalitarian, men in larger households were less likely to report domestic violence. At the same time, the probability of domestic violence perpetration was 0.07 smaller for men who were married at age 36 years 1University
at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA
Corresponding Author: Nadine Shaanta Murshid, School of Social Work, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA. Email: [email protected]
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
2
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
and older, as compared with men who were married between the ages of 16 and 20 years, as well as men who were married for more than 5 years when compared with men married for 0 to 4 years. Finally, the probability of domestic violence perpetration was 0.17 smaller for men who were married between the ages of 21 and 25 years and 0.10 smaller for men married between the ages of 26 and 35 years, compared with men who married below the legal marital age of 21. This study provides support for the use of an ecological model to explain domestic violence perpetration in the context of Bangladesh to suggest a multipronged holistic effort to address this insidious social problem and prevent its intergenerational transmission. Keywords domestic violence perpetration, Bangladesh, ecological model Data from nationally representative surveys and qualitative studies using a range of study methodology indicate that domestic violence directly affects 25% to 72% women in Bangladesh (Bates, Schuler, Islam, & Islam, 2004; Hadi, 2000; Khan, Rob, & Hossain, 2000; Koenig, Ahmed, Hossain, & Mozumder, 2003; Murshid, Akincigil, & Zippay, 2015; Schuler, Hashemi, Riley, & Akhter, 1996; Steele, Amin, & Naved, 2001). Given the fairly recent attention that domestic violence has received from a policy level—it was only in 2010 that the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act was passed in parliament—little is known about domestic violence perpetration by men in Bangladesh. Previous studies based primarily on samples of women in Bangladesh indicate that age, marital age, educational attainment, income, access to resources, autonomy, and decision-making power may be associated with domestic violence in Bangladesh (Ahmed, 2005; Amin, 1998; Bates et al., 2004; Hashemi, Schuler, & Riley, 1996; Kabeer, 2001; Koenig et al., 2003; Mizan, 1993; Naved & Persson, 2005; Naved et al., 2006; Naved & Persson, 2010; Rahman et al., 2011; Rahman et al., 2012; O’Donnell, Smith, & Madison, 2002; Sambisa, Angeles, Lance, Naved, & Thornton, 2011; Schuler et al., 2008; Schuler et al., 2011; Schuler et al., 2013). Indeed, there is a lack of representative studies that assess men’s report of domestic violence perpetration. In the current study, a nationally representative data set, the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2007, is used to examine the antecedents of domestic violence perpetration using an ecological framework. Studies from other countries, particularly the United States, indicate a host of individual, relational, and situational factors that contribute to
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
3
Murshid
domestic violence perpetration including mental health issues, relationship quality, and poverty (Tolan, Gorman-Smith, & Henry, 2006). The ecological framework is modified and contextualized to Bangladesh to capture culturally appropriate individual, relational, and situational factors that may be associated with domestic violence perpetration in Bangladesh.
Theoretical Framework The ecological framework, when applied to domestic violence, identifies individual characteristics such as history of violence victimization, relational factors such as relationship quality, and situational and contextual factors such as socioeconomic indicators as antecedents of domestic violence perpetration (Capaldi & Gorman-Smith, 2003; Heise, 1998; Tolan et al., 2006). In this study, the ecological model is contextualized to represent factors that pertain to Bangladesh. The study also tests the situational or contextual factors for association with domestic violence that include number of household members given patriarchal structure of family formation and care, level of education, and wealth index scores. In the absence of questions on marital quality and felt emotions, this study uses marital age and marital duration as indicators of relational factors that may affect relational behaviors such as domestic violence. In terms of individual-level indicators, this study uses maternal domestic violence and egalitarian view of women as indicators of personal states that may increase the risk for domestic violence perpetration. It is thus suggested that wealth, number of household members, and higher levels of education prevent men from perpetrating domestic violence. It is also suggested that domestic violence perpetration is more likely when men get married early and during the early years of marriage. At the same time, maternal domestic violence increases the odds of perpetrating domestic violence, whereas having an egalitarian view of women decrease the odds of men perpetrating domestic violence.
Method Data Data from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) from the National Institute for Population Research and Training of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Bangladesh were used in this study. The BDHS 2007 surveyed 10,400 households in which 3,771 ever-married men between the ages of 15 and 54 years were interviewed. The term “ever-married”
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
4
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
implies that respondents were married at least once in their lifetime. The BDHS 2007 used sampling frame based on enumeration areas identified by the 2001 Population Census of Bangladesh to produce nationally representative estimates for indicators for the entire nation, including urban and rural areas, and for each of the six major divisions of Bangladesh. A two stage stratified sampling method was used to identify a list of households and individuals. In the current study, we present a representative sample of currently married men aged 15 to 54 years, who responded to all questions on domestic violence, maternal domestic violence, and demographic variables to derive a sample size of 3,371.
Outcome Measure: Domestic Violence Perpetration Domestic violence is the dependent variable of interest in this study. In BDHS 2007, domestic violence was measured with a shortened form of the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) based on the battery of questions first created by Straus (1979) that asked respondents if they ever committed a number of violent acts that constituted physical and sexual violence. The shortened CTS included the following items: (a) pushing, shaking, or throwing an object; (b) slapping; (c) pulling hair or twisting an arm; (d) punching or hitting with a fist or something harmful; (e) kicking or dragging; (f) choking or burning; (g) threatening or attacking with a knife or gun; and (h) physically forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him even when she did not want to in the last 12 months. A dichotomous variable for domestic violence was created to reflect experience of domestic violence in which men were deemed to have used violence against their wives if they said yes to any of the items in the shortened CTS. The Cronbach’s alpha of the measure was found to be 0.79 in the current study.
Independent Variables Situational factors Number of household members. Respondents indicated the number of household members they had, including children, parents, and extended family members. The number of household members was grouped into 1 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 15, and more than 16 to account for large family sizes that mark South Asian families in a joint-family structure. This variable was used in its categorical form. Wealth index. The BDHS used a “wealth index” as an indicator of economic status. The BDHS index was constructed from data on household
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
5
Murshid
assets, including ownership of durable goods (such as televisions and bicycles) and dwelling characteristics (such as source of drinking water, sanitation facilities, and construction materials). For this study, the original wealth index constructed by BDHS was used such that 1 = poorest, 2 = poor, 3 = middle, 4 = rich, 5 = richest. Respondent educational attainment. Respondents indicated the highest level of education they received to fall under one the following four categories: no education, primary education, secondary education, and higher. This variable was used in its categorical form. Relational factors Marital age. Respondents indicated the age at which they first got married. This variable was grouped into 12 to 20 years to account for marriage before the legal age of 21 in Bangladesh, and 21 to 25, 26 to 35, and 36+ years. This variable was used in its categorical form. Marital duration. Respondents indicated how long they were married for. This variable was categorized into 0 to 4, 5 to 9, 10 to 14, 15 to 19, 20 to 24, 25 to 29, and 30+. Four-year gaps were maintained to account for differences due to milestone anniversaries such as the 5-year mark and the 10-year mark. Individual factors Maternal domestic violence. This single-item scale was based on responses to the question: Did your father beat your mother? This dichotomous variable was coded as “yes” = 1 and “no” = 0. Egalitarianism. Whether respondents were egalitarian or not was assessed by two questions from the BDHS: (a) Should married women be allowed to work outside the house? (b) Who makes decisions on wife’s earnings? Respondents who said women should be allowed to work outside the house and responded that their wives make decisions regarding spending her earnings either by herself or in consultation with him were considered egalitarian, coded as “yes” = 1. In other words, respondents had to say that women are allowed to work outside the house as well as indicate that their wives had a say in decisions about their earnings to be considered egalitarian. If they chose one but not the other, they were not considered egalitarian. Individuals who said married women should not be allowed to work outside the house or said they made all decisions about spending their wives’ earnings were not considered to be egalitarian, coded “no” = 0.
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Univ. of Tasmania Library on May 21, 2015
6
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Age. Respondents indicated their age in number of years, which was grouped for the purposes of this study into 16 to 20, 21 to 25, 26 to 35, and 36+ years and used in its categorical form.
Statistical Analysis Univariate descriptive statistics were calculated for the key dependent variable, domestic violence perpetration, and independent variables maternal domestic violence, egalitarianism, and demographic characteristics to describe the study population. The bivariate associations between the independent variables and domestic violence perpetration were calculated using Chi-square tests. Logistic regression was used to analyze the binary value of domestic violence perpetration in one fully adjusted model. All covariates were simultaneously inserted into the logistic regression model to generate estimated beta coefficients and marginal effects. In the bivariate and multivariate analyses, survey techniques in Stata version 13.0 (StataCorp LP, College Station, Texas) were used to account for complex sampling design of the BDHS while calculating the standard errors. In all analyses, the significance level was set at p
