TY - JOUR PY - 2010// TI - Dowry and Spousal Physical Violence Against Women in Bangladesh JO - Journal of family issues A1 - Ruchira Tabassum Naved, A1 - Persson, Lars Ake SP - 830 EP - 856 VL - 31 IS - 6 N2 - This article explores whether payment issues or presence of dowry demand in marriage reflecting patriarchal attitude of marital family underlies the positive relationship between dowry and wife abuse using a sample of reproductive-age women (N = 2,702) from a population-based survey conducted in urban and rural Bangladesh in 2001. Regression results show that absence of dowry demand in marriage lowered the likelihood of physical wife abuse in the rural site and its frequency and severity in both sites compared with marriages where dowry was demanded and fully paid. The results suggest that in general, dowry demand predicts the extent, frequency, and severity of physical wife abuse regardless of the status of dowry payment. No payment of dowry increased the likelihood of abuse, its frequency, and severity in households demanding dowry. The direction of association between partial payment of dowry and violence, however, was different in different sites, calling for further research.

LA - SN - 0192-513X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0192513X09357554 ID - ref1 ER -