Physical Domestic Violence and Subsequent Contraceptive Adoption Among Women in Rural India

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Robert Stephenson, Emory University; Apoorva Jadhav, University of Pennsylvania; Michelle Hindin, Johns Hopkins University
• Language: English
• Date: 2012-09-24
• Publisher: SAGE Publications (UK and US)
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2012 Stephenson et al.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/28/5/1020
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Interpersonal Violence
• ISSN: 0886-2605
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 5
• Start Page: 1020
• End Page: 1039
• Grant/Funding Information: This research was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, grant number R01HD039405.
• Keywords: cultural contexts; alcohol and drugs; domestic violence
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between male to female physical domestic violence and contraceptive adoption among women in four economically and culturally distinct areas of India. Data from India’s 1998–1999 National Family Health Survey–2 and a follow-up survey in 2002–2003 for which the same women in four states were reinterviewed are analyzed. The focus of the analysis is on how baseline exposure to physical domestic violence is associated with the intersurvey adoption of contraception. Women who experience physical violence from their husbands are significantly less likely to adopt contraception in the intersurvey period, although this relationship varies by State. This study builds upon previous work by using an indicator of physical domestic violence exposure that is measured before contraceptive adoption, thus allowing the identification of how exposure to violence shapes the adoption of contraception. The results demonstrate that for women living in Bihar and Jharkhand there is a clear negative relationship between physical domestic violence and a woman’s adoption of contraception; this relationship was not found for women in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The results point to the need to include domestic violence screening and referral services into family planning services.