Okyere Joshua, Dosoo Abigail Kabukie, Ayebeng Castro, Duodo Precious Adade, Dickson Kwamena Sekyi
School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, England, United Kingdom.
Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
J Health Popul Nutr. 2025 May 9;44(1):150. doi: 10.1186/s41043-025-00838-x.
Women in abusive or controlling relationships often experience restrictions on their autonomy, mobility, and decision-making capacity. Furthermore, fear of a husband or partner, whether stemming from psychological abuse, coercive control, or physical violence, may influence a woman's ability to engage in health-promoting activities like exercise. However, the relationship between fear in intimate relationships and excercise remains underexplored. We examined whether there was an association between relational fear and women's engagement in exercise, as well as the direction of this association.
We analyzed the data of 5,052 women (15-49 years) who participated in the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. We derived the outcome variable from the question: "how many days per week do you exercise?" The responses were recoded as '0 = do not exercise' and '1/7 days = exercises'. All estimates were weighted. Cross-tabulations and two sets of binary logistic regression models were computed in STATA version 18. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
Most women exercised three or more days per week (59.6%) while 22.9% did not exercise at all. Women who were most of the time afraid of their partner had a 47% higher likelihood of engaging in exercise compared to those who were never afraid (COR = 1.47, 95%CI: 1.16-1.88). After adjusting for confounders, this association weakened but remained significant (AOR = 1.33, 95%CI: 1.03-1.71). Similarly, women who were sometimes afraid of their partner showed significantly higher odds of engaging in exercise in both crude (COR = 1.30, 95%CI: 1.11-1.53) and adjusted models (AOR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.04-1.46). Increasing age, higher education levels, rural residency and media exposure were strongly associated with increased exercise engagement.
This study reveals a positive association between fear in intimate relationships and women's engagement in exercise, suggesting that exercise may serve as a coping mechanism for some women experiencing relational fear. While these results contribute to the limited literature on the intersection of intimate partner dynamics and preventive health behaviors, they remain preliminary. Further research is needed to explore the causal pathways, contextual influences, and potential long-term implications of relational fear on exercise engagement.
处于虐待或控制关系中的女性，其自主权、行动能力和决策能力常常受到限制。此外，对丈夫或伴侣的恐惧，无论源于心理虐待、强制控制还是身体暴力，都可能影响女性参与锻炼等促进健康活动的能力。然而，亲密关系中的恐惧与锻炼之间的关系仍未得到充分研究。我们研究了关系恐惧与女性锻炼参与之间是否存在关联，以及这种关联的方向。
我们分析了5052名年龄在15至49岁之间、参与2022年肯尼亚人口与健康调查的女性的数据。我们从“你每周锻炼多少天？”这个问题中得出结果变量。回答被重新编码为“0 = 不锻炼”和“1/7天 = 锻炼”。所有估计值都进行了加权处理。在STATA 18版本中进行了交叉制表和两组二元逻辑回归模型计算。统计学显著性设定为p < 0.05。
大多数女性每周锻炼三天或更多天（59.6%），而22.9%的女性根本不锻炼。与那些从不害怕的女性相比，大多数时候害怕伴侣的女性参与锻炼的可能性高出47%（校正比值比[COR] = 1.47，95%置信区间[CI]：1.16 - 1.88）。在调整混杂因素后，这种关联减弱但仍然显著（调整后的比值比[AOR] = 1.33，95%CI：1.03 - 1.71）。同样，有时害怕伴侣的女性在粗模型（COR = 1.30，95%CI：1.11 - 1.53）和调整模型（AOR = 1.23，95%CI：1.04 - 1.46）中参与锻炼的几率都显著更高。年龄增长、教育水平提高、农村居住和接触媒体与锻炼参与增加密切相关。
本研究揭示了亲密关系中的恐惧与女性锻炼参与之间存在正相关，这表明锻炼可能是一些经历关系恐惧的女性的一种应对机制。虽然这些结果为关于亲密伴侣动态与预防性健康行为交叉领域的有限文献做出了贡献，但它们仍然是初步的。需要进一步研究来探索关系恐惧对锻炼参与的因果途径、背景影响和潜在的长期影响。
