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Is unintended birth associated with physical intimate partner violence? Evidence from India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2020

Srinivas Goli Open the ORCID record for Srinivas Goli [Opens in a new window] ,
Abhishek Gautam ,
Md Juel Rana Open the ORCID record for Md Juel Rana [Opens in a new window] ,
Harchand Ram ,
Dibyasree Ganguly ,
Tamal Reja ,
Priya Nanda ,
Nitin Datta  and
Ravi Verma
Srinivas Goli*
Affiliation:
Australia India Institute (AII), UWA Public Policy Institute, The University of Western Australia, CrawleyWA, Australia Centre for the Study of Regional Development, JNU, New Delhi, India
Abhishek Gautam
Affiliation:
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), New Delhi, India
Md Juel Rana
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Regional Development, JNU, New Delhi, India
Harchand Ram
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Regional Development, JNU, New Delhi, India
Dibyasree Ganguly
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Regional Development, JNU, New Delhi, India
Tamal Reja
Affiliation:
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), New Delhi, India
Priya Nanda
Affiliation:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, New Delhi, India
Nitin Datta
Affiliation:
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), New Delhi, India
Ravi Verma
Affiliation:
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), New Delhi, India
*
*Corresponding author. Email: srinivas.goli@uwa.edu.au
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Abstract

A growing number of studies have tested the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and the unintendedness of pregnancy or birth, and most have suggested that unintendedness of pregnancy is a cause of IPV. However, about nine in every ten women face violence after delivering their first baby. This study examined the effects of the intendedness of births on physical IPV using data from the National Family Health Survey (2015–16). The multivariate logistic regression model analysis found that, compared with women with no unwanted births (2.9%), physical IPV was higher among those women who had unwanted births (6.9%, p<0.001), followed by those who had mistimed births (4.4 %, p<0.001), even after adjusting for several women’s individual and socioeconomic characteristics. Thus, the reduction of women with mistimed and unwanted births could reduce physical IPV in India. The study highlights the unfinished agenda of family planning in the country and argues for the need to integrate family planning and Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health Care (RMNCH) services to yield multi-sectoral outcomes, including the elimination of IPV.

Keywords

Domestic violencePhysical intimate partner violenceUnintended births
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 52 , Issue 6 , November 2020 , pp. 907 - 922
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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