Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Factors associated with men’s perpetration of physical violence against intimate partners in India

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Canadian Studies in Population Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Men’s perpetration of violence against their female partners is widely recognized as a serious social problem. Yet research on intimate partner violence (IPV) has been primarily focused on women’s exposure and not on men’s perpetration. This paper fills this gap and explores the intensity of and the factors associated with men’s perpetration of violence against their intimate partners. In 2013, a cross-sectional survey with multistage sampling approach was conducted in seven states of India, including 9,135 men. The study adapted the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) tool. This paper analyses data from 6,081 currently married men included in the survey. Multinomial and logistic regression were applied to determine factors associated with the intensity of physical violence perpetration in the men’s lifetime and perpetration in the past 12 months, respectively. Over one-third of the men reported ever perpetrating physical violence (15% often and 19% moderately), and almost half of them (48%) had perpetrated physical violence in the past 12 months. Education, substance abuse, and experience of violence (including bullying) during childhood stand out as the most important factors associated with violence perpetration among men.

Résumé

La perpétration de la violence par les hommes à l'encontre de leurs partenaires féminines est largement reconnue comme un grave problème social. Pourtant, la recherche sur la violence entre partenaires intimes (VPI) s'est principalement concentrée sur l'exposition des femmes et non sur la perpétration des hommes. Cet article comble cette lacune et explore l'intensité et les facteurs associés à la perpétration de la violence par les hommes contre leurs partenaires intimes. En 2013, une enquête transversale a été menée dans sept états de l'Inde, incluant 9 135 hommes. L'étude a adapté l'outil de l'Enquête internationale sur les hommes et l'égalité des sexes (IMAGES). Le présent article analyse les données collectées chez 6 081 hommes actuellement mariés de cet échantillon. Des régressions multinomiales et logistiques ont été appliquées pour déterminer les facteurs associés à l'intensité de la violence physique commise au cours de la vie et à la perpétration au cours des 12 derniers mois, respectivement. Plus d'un tiers des hommes de notre échantillon ont déclaré avoir commis des actes de violence physique dans leur vie (15% souvent et 19% modérément) et près de la moitié d'entre eux (48%) avaient commis un acte de violence physique au cours des 12 derniers mois. L'éducation, la consommation des substances, et l'expérience de violence pendant l'enfance et la jeunesse (incluant l’intimidation par les pairs) ressortent comme les facteurs le plus importants associés à la perpétration de VPI.

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

Availability of data and materials

The data for the current research can be accessed by sending a request to agatuam@icrw.org. The data was analysed in SPSS, version 19, and the syntax and codes are available upon request.

Notes

  1. Unadjusted relative risk ratios from multinomial models including only one variable at a time are presented in the Appendix.

References

  • Abrahams, N., Jewkes, R., Hoffman, M., & Laubsher, R. (2004). Sexual violence against intimate partners in Cape Town: Prevalence and risk factors reported by men. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 82(5), 330–337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abramsky, T., Watts, C. H., Garcia-Moreno, C., Devries, K., Kiss, L., Ellsberg, M., et al. (2011). What factors are associated with recent intimate partner violence? Findings from the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence. BMC Public Health, 11, 109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ackerson, L. K., Kawachi, L., Barbeau, E. M., & Subramanian, S. V. (2008). Effects of individual and proximate educational context on intimate partner violence: A population-based study of women in India. American Journal of Public Health, 98(3), 507–514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babu, B. V., & Kar, S. K. (2010). Domestic violence in eastern India: Factors associated with victimization and perpetration. Public Health, 124, 136–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldry, A. C. (2003). Bullying in schools and exposure to domestic violence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 27(7), 713–732.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, G., Contreras, J. M., Heilman, B., Singh, A. K., Verma, R. K., & Nascimento, M. (2011). Evolving men: Initial results from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey. International Center for Research on Women.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhatta, D. N. (2014). Shadow of domestic violence and extramarital sex cohesive with spousal communication among males in Nepal. Reproductive Health, 11(1), 44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, B., Duvvury, N., & Varia, N. (2000). Domestic violence in India: A summary report of a multi-site household survey. International Center for Research on Women.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, B. E., & Worden, A. P. (2005). Attitudes and beliefs about domestic violence: Results of a public opinion survey: I. definitions of domestic violence, criminal domestic violence, and prevalence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(10), 1197–1218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Contreras, M., Heilman, B., Barker, G., Singh, A., Verma, R., & Bloomfield, J. (2012). Bridges to adulthood: Understanding the lifelong influence of men’s childhood experiences of violence analyzing data from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey. International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and Instituto Promundo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalal, K., Rahman, F., & Jansson, B. (2009). Wife abuse in rural Bangladesh. Journal of Biosocial Science, 41(5), 561–573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Mel, N., Peiris, P., & Gomez, S. (2013). Broadening gender: Why masculinities matter: attitudes, practices and gender-based violence in four districts in Sri Lanka. CARE and P4P.

    Google Scholar 

  • Desmarais, S. L., Reeves, K. A., Nicholls, T. L., Telford, R. P., & Fiebert, M. S. (2012). Prevalence of physical violence in intimate relationships, part 2: Rates of male and female perpetration. Partner Abuse, 3(2), 170–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falb, K. L., McCauley, H. L., Decker, M. R., Gupta, J., Raj, A., & Silverman, J. G. (2011). School bullying perpetration and other childhood risk factors as predictors of adult intimate partner violence perpetration. Archives of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 165(10), 890–894.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fikree, F. F., Razzak, J. A., & Durocher, J. (2005). Attitudes of Pakistani men to domestic violence: A study from Karachi, Pakistan. Journal of Men’s Health and Gender, 2(1), 49–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, P. J., McCleary-Sills, J., Morton, M., Levtov, R., Heilman, B., & Barker, G. (2015). Risk factors for men’s lifetime perpetration of physical violence against intimate partners: Results from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) in Eight Countries. PLoS ONE, 10(3), e0118639. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fulu, E., Jewkes, R., Roselli, T., & Garcia-Moreno, C. (2013a). Prevalence of and factors associated with male perpetration of intimate partner violence: Findings from the UN Multi-country cross-sectional study on men and violence in Asia and the Pacific. Lancet Global Health, 1, 187–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fulu, E., Warner, X., Miedema, S., & Liou, C. (2013b). Toolkit for replicating the UN multicountry study on men and violence: Understanding why some men use violence against women and how we can prevent it. UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Moreno, C., Jansen, H. A. F. M., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L., & Watts, C. (2005). WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women: Initial results on prevalence, health outcomes and women’s responses. World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Moreno, C., Janesen, 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. The Lancet, 368, 1260–1269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, J., Acevedo-Garcia, D., Hemenway, D., Decker, M., Raj, A., & Silverman, J. G. (2009). Pre-migration exposure to political violence and perpetration of intimate partner violence among immigrant men in Boston. American Journal of Public Health, 99, 462–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heise, L. (1998). Violence against women: An integrated, ecological framework. Violence against Women, 4, 262–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heise, L. (2006). Determinants of intimate partner violence. PhD dissertation, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. London, UK

  • Heise, L. (2011). What works to prevent partner violence? An evidence overview. London STRIVE research consortium.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herrenkohl, T. I., Mason, W. A., Kosterman, R., Lengua, L. J., Hawkins, J. D., & Abbott, R. D. (2004). Pathways from physical childhood abuse to partner violence in young adulthood. Violence and Victims, 19(2), 123–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hindin, M. J., & Adair, L. S. (2002). Who’s at risk? Factors associated with intimate partner violence in the Philippines. Social Science Medicine, 55, 1385–1399. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(01)00273-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jayatilleke, A., Poudel, K., Yasuoka, J., Jayatilleke, A., & Jimba, M. (2010). Intimate partner violence in Sri Lanka. BioScience Trends, 4(3), 90–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jewkes, R. (2002). Intimate partner violence: Causes and prevention. The Lancet, 359, 1423–1429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiluva-Ndunda, M. M. (2001). Women’s agency and educational policy: The experiences of the women of Kilome. State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koenig, M. A., Stephenson, R., Ahmed, S., Jejeebhoy, S. J., & Campbell, J. (2006). Individual and contextual determinants of domestic violence in north India. American Journal of Public Health, 96(1), 132–138. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2004.050872

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonard, K. E., & Blane, H. T. (1992). Alcohol and marital aggression in a national sample of young men. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 7, 19–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levtov, R. G., Barker, G., Contreras-Urbina, M., Heilman, B., & Verma, R. (2013). Pathways to gender-equitable men findings from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey in eight countries. Men and Masculinity, 17, 467–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nanda, P., Gautam, A., Verma, R., Khanna, A., Khan, N., Brahme, D., et al. (2014). Study on masculinity, intimate partner violence and son preference in India. International Center for Research on Women.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naved, R. T., & Persson, L. A. (2005). Factors associated with physical violence by husbands in Bangladesh. Studies in Family Planning, 36, 289–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, E., Silverman, J. G., Raj, A., Rothman, E. F., Decker, M. R., Gottlieb, B., et al. (2008). Social and environmental contexts of adolescent and young adult male perpetrators of intimate partner violence: A qualitative study. American Journal of Men’s Health, 2(3), 260–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, A. L., Gilman, S. E., Fitzmaurice, G., Decker, M. R., & Koenen, K. C. (2010). Witness of intimate partner violence in childhood and perpetration of intimate partner violence in adulthood. Epidemiology, 21(6), 809–818.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silverman, J. G., Decker, M. R., Kapur, N. A., Gupta, J., & Raj, A. (2007). Violence against wives, sexual risk and sexually transmitted infection among Bangladeshi men. Sexually Transmitted Infection, 2007(83), 211–215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swahnberg, K., Wijma, B., Schei, B., Hilden, M., Irminger, K., & Wingren, G. B. (2004). Are sociodemographic and regional and sample factors associated with prevalence of abuse? Acta ObstetriciaGynecologica Scandinavica, 83(3), 276–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization. (2012). Understanding and addressing violence against women overview. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/violence/rhr12_35/en/

  • World Health Organization. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. World Health Organization http://www.who.int/iris/handle/10665/85239

  • World Health Organization and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. (2010). Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women: Taking action and generating evidence. World Health Organization. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2010/9789241564007_eng.pdf.

  • Yount, K. M., DiGirolamo, A., & Ramakrishnan, U. (2011). Impacts of domestic violence on child growth and nutrition: A conceptual review of the pathways of influence. Social Science and Medicine, 72, 1534–1554.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to UNFPA India and Asia-Pacific team for providing technical support in finalizing the research design and tools and extending the support in each state during the data collection. We thank to the research and field team of Nielsen India Pvt. Ltd. for collecting the data. Lastly, we are thankful to all the participants who agreed to give time for the interview and shared detailed information with us.

Funding

The study was funded by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Statistics, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Abhishek Gautam, Kaushalendra Kumar Singh & Brijesh Pratap Singh

  2. International Center for Research On Women, Asia Regional Office, C-59, South Extension Part 2, New Delhi, 110049, India

    Abhishek Gautam & Ravi Verma

Authors
  1. Abhishek Gautam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kaushalendra Kumar Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Brijesh Pratap Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ravi Verma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

RV and AG designed the study. AG, KKS, and BPS conceptualize the research piece. AG led manuscript writing. All authors contributed to final draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abhishek Gautam.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The present study uses data from the “Masculinity, Intimate Partner Violence and Son Preference in India Study” conducted in 2013–2014 by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) with support from UNFPA. The protocol, tools, sampling methods, consent process, and consent forms were approved by ICRWs Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to the survey.

Consent for publication

All authors consent to the publication of this paper.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 Unadjusted relative risk ratios (RRR) from multinomial logistic regressions on intensity of violence perpetration controlling for background characteristics
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gautam, A., Singh, K.K., Singh, B.P. et al. Factors associated with men’s perpetration of physical violence against intimate partners in India. Can. Stud. Popul. 48, 361–385 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42650-021-00052-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42650-021-00052-0

Keywords

Mots-clé

Search

Navigation