Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, USA.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2021 Dec;75(12):1202-1207. doi: 10.1136/jech-2020-214843. Epub 2021 May 28.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is high among married women in Bangladesh. Social isolation is a well-established correlate of women's exposure to IPV, but the role of such factors in low-income and middle-income countries is not well understood. In this study, we explore whether social connection is protective against IPV among married women in rural Bangladesh.
Data were drawn from a multistage, stratified, population-based longitudinal sample of 3355 married women in rural Bangladesh, who were surveyed on individual and contextual risk factors of IPV. Negative binomial regression models were used to estimate the association between three different domains of social connection (natal family contact, female companionship and instrumental social support), measured at baseline in 2013, and the risk of three different forms of IPV (psychological, physical and sexual), approximately 10 months later, adjusted for woman's level of education, spouse's level of education, level of household wealth, age and age of marriage.
Adjusted models showed that instrumental social support was associated with a lower risk of past year psychological IPV (risk ratio (RR)=0.84, 95% CI 0.769 to 0.914), sexual IPV (RR=0.90, 95% CI 0.822 to 0.997) and physical IPV (RR=0.81, 95% CI 0.718 to 0.937). Natal family contact was also associated with a lower risk of each type of IPV, but not in a graded fashion. Less consistent associations were observed with female companionship.
Our findings suggest that social connection, particularly in the form of instrumental support, may protect married women in rural Bangladesh from experiencing IPV.
在孟加拉国，已婚女性中亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）的发生率很高。社会孤立是女性遭受 IPV 的一个既定相关因素，但在中低收入国家，这些因素的作用尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们探讨了社会联系是否对孟加拉国农村地区已婚女性的 IPV 具有保护作用。
数据来自孟加拉国农村地区一个多阶段、分层、基于人群的纵向样本，该样本对 3355 名已婚女性进行了关于 IPV 的个体和背景风险因素的调查。使用负二项回归模型来估计社会联系的三个不同领域（原生家庭联系、女性陪伴和工具性社会支持）与大约 10 个月后（2013 年基线测量）三种不同形式的 IPV（心理、身体和性）之间的关联，调整了女性的教育水平、配偶的教育水平、家庭财富水平、年龄和结婚年龄。
调整后的模型表明，工具性社会支持与过去一年心理 IPV（风险比（RR）=0.84，95%置信区间（CI）0.769 至 0.914）、性 IPV（RR=0.90，95%CI 0.822 至 0.997）和身体 IPV（RR=0.81，95%CI 0.718 至 0.937）的风险降低相关。原生家庭联系也与每种类型的 IPV 的风险降低相关，但不是呈梯度变化。与女性陪伴的关联则不太一致。
我们的研究结果表明，社会联系，特别是工具性支持的形式，可能会保护孟加拉国农村地区的已婚女性免受 IPV 的侵害。
