Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Using an Ecological Framework to Understand Men’s Reasons for Spousal Abuse: An Investigation of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2007

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Family Violence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article applies an ecological model to explore men’s reasons for spousal abuse in Bangladesh. Data from the Demographic and Health Survey 2007 indicate that multiple factors perpetuate spousal abuse: the individual-level factors of low education and wealth, a micro-level factor of women making decisions regarding household purchases, an exo-level factor relating to the wives’ failure to seek legal support, and a macro-level factor reflecting cultural support for using violence to control wives. However, an ecological model reflecting all four levels of measurement (individual, micro, exo, and macro) explains the greatest amount of variance in spousal abuse. Policy implications include changing the support for spousal abuse at the cultural level, while addressing men’s controlling attitudes towards women within the household.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akhter, Z. (2008). Some social practices combined with constant violence against women. Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies, 15(1), 71–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akhter, R. (2011). Attitude toward physical abuse among women and men of Bangladesh: an empirical investigation of Demographic Health Survey data 2007. Journal of US-China Public Administration, 8, 1156–1164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akhter, R., & Ward, K. B. (2004). Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards domestic violence: Listening to Bangladeshi women’s voice. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA.

  • Aklimunnessa, K., Khan, M. M. H., Kabir, M., & Mori, M. (2007). Prevalence and correlates of domestic violence by husbands against wives in Bangladesh: evidence from a national survey. Journal of Men’s Health and Gender, 4(1), 52–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akter, M., & Begum, R. (2012). Factors for divorce of women undergoing divorce in Bangladesh. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 53, 639–651. doi:10.1080/10502556.2012.725364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ameen, N. (2005). Wife abuse in Bangladesh: An unrecognized offence. Dhaka: University Press Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Archer, J. (2006). Cross-cultural differences in physical aggression between partners: a social-role analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(2), 133–153. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr1002_3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA). (2002). Violence against women in Bangladesh 2001. Dhaka: BNWLA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates, L. M., Schuler, S. R., Islam, F., & Islam, M. K. (2004). Socioeconomic factors and processes associated with domestic violence in rural Bangladesh. International Family Planning Perspectives, 30(4), 190–199.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Belsky, J. (1980). Child maltreatment: an ecological integration. American Psychologist, 35, 320–335.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bhuiya, A., Sharmin, T., & Hanifi, S. M. A. (2003). Nature of domestic violence against women in a rural area of Bangladesh: implication for preventive interventions. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, 21(1), 48–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blood, R. O., Wolfe, D. M., & Blood, R. O., Jr. (1960). Husbands & wives: The dynamics of married living. Westport: Greenwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, J. (2002). Restorative justice & responsive regulation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flood, M., & Pease, B. (2009). Factors influencing attitudes to violence against women. Trauma Violence Abuse, 10(2), 125–142. doi:10.1177/1524838009334131.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fried, S. T. (2003). Violence against women. Health and Human Rights, 6(2), 88–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Moreno, C., Jansen, H. A. F. M., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L., & Watts, C. H. (2006). Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence. Lancet, 368, 1260–1269.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guhathakurta, M. (2004). Women negotiating change: the structure and transformation of gendered violence in Bangladesh. Cultural Dynamics, 16, 193–211. doi:10.1177/0921374004047745.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hadi, A. (2005). Women’s productive role and marital violence in Bangladesh. Journal of Family Violence, 20, 181–189. doi:10.1007/s10896-005-3654-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hadi, S. T. (2009). “It’s ok to beat my wife?” Patriarchal perceptions of Bangladeshi respondents and factors associated. Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology, 6(2), 58–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadi, S. T. (2010). The face of intimate partner violence in Bangladesh: revealing patterns from the existing literature. Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology, 7(1), 12–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haque, M., Islam, T. M., Tareque, I., & Mostofa, G. (2011). Women empowerment or autonomy: a comparative view in Bangladesh context. Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology, 8(2), 17–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartmann, H. (1990). Capitalism, patriarchy, and job segregation by sex. In I. J. Philipson (Ed.), Women, class, and the feminist imagination: A socialist-feminist reader (pp. 146–181). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heise, L. L. (1998). Violence against women: an integrated, ecological framework. Violence Against Women, 4(3), 262–290.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heisler, C. (2004, November). Court orders protect victims of stalking and domestic violence. The Crime Victims Report, 67–69.

  • Hussain, T. M. (1999). Indicators for gender equity: taking measure of women’s lives in rural Bangladesh. Development, 42(2), 97–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Islam, S., & Ward, K. B. (2005). Spotlight on the organized resistance towards ending domestic violence in Bangladesh. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA.

  • Jahan, F. (2008). When women protect women: Restorative justice and domestic violence in South Asia. Dhaka: A. H. Development Publishing House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, K. B., & Das, M. B. (2009). Spousal violence in Bangladesh as reported by men: prevalence and risk factors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24(6), 977–995. doi:10.1177/0886260508319368.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender equality and women’s empowerment: a critical analysis of the third Millennium Development Goal. Gender and Development, 13(1), 13–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kishor, S., & Jhonson, K. (2004). Profiling domestic violence: A multi-country study. Calverton: Macro International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koenig, M. A., Ahmed, S., Hossain, M. B., & Mozumder, A. B. M. K. (2003). Women’s status and domestic violence in rural Bangladesh: individual- and community-level effects. Demography, 40(2), 269–288.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, J. (2012). Sociological theories of intimate partner violence. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 22, 572–590. doi:10.1080/10911359.2011.598748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, D. (1989). Family violence in cross-cultural perspective (Vol. 1). Newbury Park: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mostofa, G., & Haque, M. (2009). Women’s empowerment in patriarchal Bangladesh. Loyola Journal of Social Sciences, 23(1), 67–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), Mitra and Associates, & Macro International. (2009). Bangladesh demographic and health survey 2007. Dhaka: National Institute of Population Research and Training, Mitra and Associates, & Macro International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naved, R. T., & Persson, L. Å. (2005). Factors associated with spousal physical violence against women in Bangladesh. Studies in Family Planning, 36(4), 289–300.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Naved, R. T., & Persson, L. Å. (2010). Dowry and spousal physical violence against women in Bangladesh. Journal of Family Issues, 31, 830–856. doi:10.1177/0192513X09357554.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naved, R. T., Azim, S., Bhuiya, A., & Persson, L. Å. (2006). Physical violence by husbands: magnitude, disclosure, and help-seeking behavior of women in Bangladesh. Social Science & Medicine, 62, 2917–2929. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.12.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nayak, M. B., Byrne, C. A., Martin, M. K., & Abraham, A. G. (2003). Attitudes toward violence against women: a cross-nation study. Sex Roles, 49(7/8), 333–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niaz, U. (2003). Violence against women in South Asian countries. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 6, 173–184. doi:10.1007/s00737-003-0171-9.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oropesa, R. S. (1997). Development and marital power in Mexico. Social Forces, 75, 1291–1317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osirim, M. J. (2003). Crisis in the state and the family: violence against women in Zimbabwe. African Studies Quarterly: The Online Journal for African Studies, 7(2–3). Retrieved from http://musa.jhu.edu/journal/africa.today/o49/49.1osirim.html.

  • Parveen, S. (2007). Domestic violence against farm women in Bangladesh: causes and consequences. Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies, 14(2), 103–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickup, F., Williams, S., & Sweetman, C. (2001). Ending violence against women: A challenge for development and humanitarian work. England: OXFAM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahman, M., Hoque, A., & Makinoda, S. (2011). Intimate partner violence against women: is women empowerment a reducing factor? A study from a national Bangladeshi sample. Journal of Family Violence, 26, 411–420. doi:10.1007/s10896-011-9375-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rapp, D., Zoch, B., Kahn, M., Mobarak, H., Pollmann, T., & Krämer, A. (2012). Association between gap in spousal education and domestic violence in India and Bangladesh. BMC Public Health, 12, 467. Retrieved January 31, 2013, from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/467.

  • Salam, A., Alim, A., & Noguchi, T. (2006). Spousal abuse against women and its consequences on reproductive health: a study in the urban slums of Bangladesh. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 10(1), 83–94. doi:10.1007/s10995-005-0030-6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sayem, A. M. (2012). Preventing domestic violence in the South Asian context: men’s or family involvement. Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 6, 218–236. doi:10.1111/j.1753-1411.2012.00072.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sayem, A. M., & Kahn, M. A. U. (2012). Women’s strategic responses to intimate partner violence: a study in a rural community of Bangladesh. Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 6, 23–39. doi:10.1111/j.1753-1411.2011.00060.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuler, S. R., & Islam, F. (2008). Women’s acceptance of intimate partner violence within marriage in rural Bangladesh. Studies in Family Planning, 39(1), 49–58.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schuler, S. R., Bates, L. M., & Islam, F. (2008). Women’s rights, domestic violence, and recourse seeking in rural Bangladesh. Violence Against Women, 14(3), 326–345. doi:10.1177/1077801207313970.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shahidullah, S. M., & Derby, C. N. (2009). Criminalisation, modernization, and globalization: the US and international perspectives on domestic violence. Global Crime, 10(3), 196–223. doi:10.1080/17440570903079923.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L. W. (2000). Domestic violence and restorative justice: answering key questions. The Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, 8(1), 263–689.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L., Berk, R., & Smith, D. (1992a). Crime, punishment, and stake in conformity: legal and informal control of domestic violence. American Sociological Review, 57, 680–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L. W., Schmidt, J. D., Rogan, D. P., Smith, D. A., Gartin, P. R., Cohn, E. G., Collins, D. J., & Bacich, A. R. (1992b). The variable effects of arrest on criminal careers: the Milwaukee Domestic Violence Experiment. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 83(1), 137–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sitaker, M. (2007). The ecology of intimate partner violence: theorized impacts on women’s use of violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 15(3/4), 179–219. doi:10.1080/10926770802097335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stieglitz, J., Gurven, M., Kaplan, H., & Winking, J. (2012). Infidelity, jealousy, and wife abuse among Tsimane forager-farmers: testing evolutionary hypotheses of marital conflict. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(5), 438–448. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.12.006.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Vyas, S., & Watts, C. (2008). How does economic empowerment affect women’s risk of intimate partner violence in low and middle income countries? A systematic review of published evidence. Journal of International Development, 20, 1–28. doi:10.1002/jid1500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Websdale, N., & Chesney-Lind, M. (1998). Doing violence to women: Research synthesis on the victimization of women. In L. H. Bowker (Ed.), Masculinities and violence (pp. 55–79). Newbury Park: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2002). World development report 2002: Building institutions for markets. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (WHO). (2005a). WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women: Summary report of initial results on prevalence, health outcomes, and women’s responses. Geneva: WHO.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (WHO). (2005b). WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women: Summary report of initial results on prevalence, health outcomes, and women’s responses: country findings, Bangladesh. Geneva: WHO.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Demographic and Health Surveys Program of USAID for providing us data on the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2007. The authors also extend gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Central Arkansas, IRBY 306 B, 201 Donaghey Avenue, Conway, AR, 72035, USA

    Rifat Akhter & Janet K. Wilson

Authors
  1. Rifat Akhter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Janet K. Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rifat Akhter.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Akhter, R., Wilson, J.K. Using an Ecological Framework to Understand Men’s Reasons for Spousal Abuse: An Investigation of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2007. J Fam Viol 31, 27–38 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9741-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9741-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation