Domestic violence across generations

Findings from northern India

Bibliographic Data

ID23345501
AuthorsSandra L Martins (0000-0002-4602-891X, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, corresponding author), Sandra L Martin, Kathryn E Moracco (0000-0002-9038-5949, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control), Julian Garro (Cancer Research And Biostatistics), Amy O Tsui (0000-0001-9158-0503, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Lawrence L Kupper (0000-0002-5941-0085, Cancer Research And Biostatistics), Jennifer L Chase (Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs), Jacquelyn C Campbell (0000-0003-3689-4547), Jacquelyn Campbell (0000-0002-3821-5037, Johns Hopkins University)
Year2002
Volume31
Issue3
Pages560-572
Publication date2002-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Epidemiology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0300-5771 • E-ISSN: 1464-3685
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/ije/31.3.560
PMID12055156
OpenAlexW2147692241
LanguageEN
Citations received77
References cited35

BACKGROUND: Although one cannot underestimate the importance of macrosystem-level forces (such as cultural and social norms) in the aetiology of gender-based violence within any country, including India, individual-level variables (such as observing violence between one's parents while growing up) may also play important roles in the development of such violence. Therefore, this research studies men residing in northern India to: (1) estimate the prevalence of men's childhood experiences of witnessing parent-to-parent violence within their families of origin; (2) examine whether men raised in violent homes were more likely than men raised in non-violent homes to have attitudes supportive of husbands' control of their wives; (3) examine whether men raised in violent homes were more likely than men raised in non-violent homes to be abusive toward their own wives; and (4) estimate the extent to which wife abuse in this second generation could have been prevented had there not been parent-to-parent violence in the men's natal families. METHODS: Married men (n = 6902) were surveyed concerning: their childhood experiences of witnessing parent-to-parent violence in their families of origin; their attitudes regarding the appropriateness of husbands' control of their wives; their physically and sexually abusive behaviours toward their own wives; and sociodemographic variables. Descriptive statistics, multivariable modelling procedures, and estimation of a population attributable fraction were used to address the study questions. RESULTS: Approximately one-third of the men had witnessed parent-to-parent violence as a child. Compared to men raised in non-violent homes, men from violent homes were significantly more likely to believe in husbands' rights to control their wives, and to be physically/sexually abusive toward their own wives. Non-violence in the earlier generation was strongly predictive of non-violence in the second generation, with about a third of the wife abuse in the second generation being attributable to parent-to-parent violence in the first generation. CONCLUSIONS: These findings from northern India are congruent with those from other geographical/cultural settings in suggesting that witnessing violence between one's parents while growing up is an important risk factor for the perpetration of partner violence in adulthood.

Environmental health · Geography · Poison control · Sociology · Child Abuse and Trauma · Demography · Elder Abuse and Neglect · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Medicine

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