Department of Social Medicine, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA.
Department of Social Medicine, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio University, Dublin, OH, USA.
Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2022 Mar;156(3):546-551. doi: 10.1002/ijgo.13772. Epub 2021 Jun 25.
Female genital mutilation is a public health problem resulting in multiple health complications. In Ethiopia, female circumcision is widely practiced, with women taking center stage in the perpetuation of the practice. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior for variable selection, the following study assessed the association between maternal attitude towards female circumcision and daughter's circumcision status.
From the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, we analyzed a subsample of 6948 women. The outcome variable assessed daughter's circumcision status; the main independent variable assessed participant's opinion towards female circumcision. We conducted univariate, bivariate, and multiple logistic regression analyses.
In the bivariate analysis, none of the variables, except for religion, showed any association with daughter's circumcision status. In the multivariable regression model, several variables showed a significant association with daughter's circumcision status. Older, rural, and circumcised women were more likely to have at least one daughter circumcised, but wanting female circumcision to stop, being a Muslim, and having at least a secondary education were negatively associated with daughter's circumcision status.
Our findings suggest that eliminating female circumcision may require changing maternal attitudes towards the practice by targeting rural, circumcised, and older women with no formal education.
女性生殖器切割是一种导致多种健康并发症的公共卫生问题。在埃塞俄比亚，女性割礼广泛存在，女性在这种做法的延续中处于中心地位。本研究使用计划行为理论进行变量选择，评估了母亲对女性割礼的态度与女儿割礼状况之间的关联。
我们对 2016 年埃塞俄比亚人口与健康调查的一个子样本（6948 名妇女）进行了分析。结果变量评估了女儿的割礼状况；主要的独立变量评估了参与者对女性割礼的看法。我们进行了单变量、双变量和多变量逻辑回归分析。
在单变量分析中，除了宗教信仰外，没有任何变量与女儿的割礼状况有关。在多变量回归模型中，几个变量与女儿的割礼状况有显著关联。年龄较大、农村地区和已割礼的妇女更有可能至少有一个女儿接受割礼，但希望停止女性割礼、是穆斯林教徒以及接受过至少中等教育与女儿的割礼状况呈负相关。
我们的研究结果表明，要消除女性割礼，可能需要通过针对没有正规教育的农村、割礼和年龄较大的妇女，改变她们对这种做法的态度。
