Citation

Onayemi OM, Ogungbemi EB. J. Interpers. Violence 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0886260520978192

PMID

33319612

Abstract

Incidents of violence among intimate partners remains an increasing concern in Nigeria. More disturbing is the fact that some women still justify acts of violence (particularly, wife-beating) from their partners. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of spousal demographic gap and other specific demographic constructs in explaining women's justification of wife-beating. The study is based on married or cohabiting women sampled in the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. The study shows that, overall, 31% of women justified wife-beating. The proportion of women justifying wife-beating ranges from as low as 1% to as high as 89% across the 36 States. Using Binary Logistic Regression, partners' age difference was not a significant predictor. However, when a woman's education level is at par (OR =.844, p <.05) or higher than that of her partner (OR =.726, p <.000), she is less likely to believe that a man is justified to beat his wife under any circumstances. Other factors explaining the justification of wife-beating among married and cohabiting women are economic status, place of residence, employment status of partners, and women's involvement in decision-making. The findings reveal the association between spousal demographic gap and women's justification of wife-beating. Programs that address individual and structural factors promoting justification of wife-beating become necessary.

Language: en

Keywords

domestic violence; predicting domestic violence; battered women; domestic violence and cultural contexts; perceptions of domestic violence