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Examining the Longitudinal Relationship between Intimate Partner Violence and Couples’ Marital Quality in Rural India

Authors:
Sangeeta Chatterji at The University of Edinburgh
Sangeeta Chatterji
Nicole Johns at University of California, San Diego
Nicole Johns
Mohan Ghule
Mohan Ghule
Begum Shahina at ICMR-National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health
Begum Shahina
  • ICMR-National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health
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Abstract

Much of the research on intimate partner violence (IPV) documents the negative impacts of violence on women, which are substantial. Less attention has been given to perceptions of the marital relationship given these experiences of violence. However, evidence suggests that many women affected by IPV within marriage remain in their relationships, particularly in contexts such as India, where divorce remains highly stigmatized. Understanding and supporting marital quality may need greater prioritization to support women who remain in relationships affected by violence. This study examines the association between IPV and marital quality among young married couples in rural India. We interviewed 1084 women and 1084 men at two time points (baseline, 18 months) in a western state in India and used multilevel mixed effects models to test the association between IPV and marital quality. We found that women’s experience of physical and sexual IPV was associated with poor marital quality at 18 months. Women’s experience of sexual IPV was also negatively associated with men’s self-reported marital quality at 18 months. Among men, spouse’s marital quality was positively associated with their own rating of marital quality. We also examined the reciprocal relationship between IPV and marital quality and found that women’s report of poor marital quality was associated with their future experience of physical IPV, sexual IPV, and emotional IPV. Taken together, these findings suggest that IPV interventions need to target marital quality to be effective. To do this, we would need to shift our lens from empowering individuals to empowering couples to work together to improve their relationships.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
1 3
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-022-00363-z
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Examining theLongitudinal Relationship betweenIntimate Partner
Violence andCouples’ Marital Quality inRural India
SangeetaChatterji1 · NicoleJohns1· MohanGhule1· ShahinaBegum2· SarahAverbach1,3· MadhusudanBattala4·
AnitaRaj1
Accepted: 14 January 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022
Abstract
Much of the research on intimate partner violence (IPV) documents the negative impacts of violence on women, which are
substantial. Less attention has been given to perceptions of the marital relationship given these experiences of violence.
However, evidence suggests that many women affected by IPV within marriage remain in their relationships, particularly in
contexts such as India, where divorce remains highly stigmatized. Understanding and supporting marital quality may need
greater prioritization to support women who remain in relationships affected by violence. This study examines the associa-
tion between IPV and marital quality among young married couples in rural India. We interviewed 1084 women and 1084
men at two time points (baseline, 18months) in a western state in India and used multilevel mixed effects models to test the
association between IPV and marital quality. We found that women’s experience of physical and sexual IPV was associated
with poor marital quality at 18months. Women’s experience of sexual IPV was also negatively associated with men’s self-
reported marital quality at 18months. Among men, spouse’s marital quality was positively associated with their own rating of
marital quality. We also examined the reciprocal relationship between IPV and marital quality and found that women’s report
of poor marital quality was associated with their future experience of physical IPV, sexual IPV, and emotional IPV. Taken
together, these findings suggest that IPV interventions need to target marital quality to be effective. To do this, we would
need to shift our lens from empowering individuals to empowering couples to work together to improve their relationships.
Keywords Intimate partner violence· Marital quality· Violence prevention· India· Couples
Introduction
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global public health
issue. One-third of women worldwide have experienced
at least one form of physical or sexual violence from their
intimate partners in their lifetime (Devries etal., 2013b).
IPV has negative consequences on women’s health includ-
ing injury, chronic pain, pregnancy loss, and substance use
(Campbell, 2002; Devries etal., 2013a; Stockman etal.,
2014; Wu etal., 2010). Much of the research on IPV docu-
ments these negative socio-economic and health impacts of
abuse on women, which are substantial. Less attention has
been given to perceptions of the marital relationship given
the experiences of violence, likely because of researcher rec-
ognition that such relationships are harmful and are thus of
poor quality. However, evidence suggests that many women
affected by IPV within marriage remain in their relation-
ships, particularly in contexts such as India, where divorce
remains highly stigmatized (Decker etal., 2013; Ragavan
etal., 2015). Thus, understanding and supporting marital
quality may need greater prioritization to support women
who remain in relationships affected by violence. Given evi-
dence that violence in marital relationships decline over the
life course, such understanding can be particularly useful
over time. To advance this area of research and practice,
this study seeks to examine the association between IPV and
marital quality among young married couples in rural India.
* Sangeeta Chatterji
schatterji@health.ucsd.edu
1 Center onGender Equity andHealth, School ofMedicine,
University ofCalifornia San Diego, LaJolla, CA, USA
2 National Institute forResearch inReproductive andChild
Health, Mumbai, India
3 Department ofObstetrics, Gynecology andReproductive
Sciences, School ofMedicine, University ofCalifornia San
Diego, LaJolla, CA, USA
4 Population Council, Delhi, India
/ Published online: 18 January 2022
Journal of Family Violence (2023) 38:139–148
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... The original scale had 32 items, and we retained nine for CHARM2. These nine items were tested before the baseline survey and validated using factor analysis [28]. Because items had different response options, each item was rescaled to 0-1, and a mean score was computed. ...
... Additionally, this study relied on women's reports of male-to-female IPV, and men were not asked about their perpetration. IPV has been linked with lower marital quality, and gender differences in understanding and reporting of IPV may partially explain the difference in marital quality between women and men [28,37,38]. ...
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Introduction Intimate partner violence (IPV) among married couples is an area of concern in the current scenario in India. It is an important public health issue that substantially affects a person’s mental and physical health. Thus, in this systematic review, we aim to review and analyze the previous literature on the antecedents, consequences, and intervention studies on IPV conducted in India. Methods We conducted a literature search on the following network databases: APA PsycNet, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect. We selected 47 studies potentially relevant articles published from 2000 to 2023 for detailed evaluation. The systematic review was done adhering to PRISMA guidelines. Results Our results indicated that very few studies are conducted in the Indian cultural context that explored the issues of IPV. There are various demographic, cultural, and individual factors acting as risk factors for perpetrating IPV in India. Studies also show a significant impact of IPV on mental and physical health. Additionally, very few interventional studies have been conducted to prevent or reduce IPV in India. From the study results, we can infer that there is a need to adapt or develop indigenous interventions for IPV in India. Conclusion Considering the aspects discussed in the present study, we understood that IPV is a major, widely prevalent, under-recognized issue in India. So, the study implies a necessity for conducting more research in the Indian cultural context and developing indigenous intervention studies in India.
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