Spousal Socio-demographic Gaps and Women’s Justification of Wife-beating in Nigeria

Incidents of violence among intimate partners remains an increasing concern in Nigeria. More disturbing is the fact that some women still justify acts of violence (particularly, wife-beating) from their partners. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of spousal demographic gap and o...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Onayemi, Olayinka M. (Author) ; Ogungbemi, Emmanuel B. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
In: Journal of interpersonal violence
Year: 2022, Volume: 37, Issue: 11/12, Pages: NP10429-NP10442
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Battered Women
Domestic Violence
domestic violence and cultural contexts
perceptions of domestic violence
predicting domestic violence
Description
Summary:Incidents of violence among intimate partners remains an increasing concern in Nigeria. More disturbing is the fact that some women still justify acts of violence (particularly, wife-beating) from their partners. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of spousal demographic gap and other specific demographic constructs in explaining women?s justification of wife-beating. The study is based on married or cohabiting women sampled in the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. The study shows that, overall, 31% of women justified wife-beating. The proportion of women justifying wife-beating ranges from as low as 1% to as high as 89% across the 36 States. Using Binary Logistic Regression, partners? age difference was not a significant predictor. However, when a woman?s education level is at par (OR = .844, p < .05) or higher than that of her partner (OR = .726, p < .000), she is less likely to believe that a man is justified to beat his wife under any circumstances. Other factors explaining the justification of wife-beating among married and cohabiting women are economic status, place of residence, employment status of partners, and women?s involvement in decision-making. The findings reveal the association between spousal demographic gap and women?s justification of wife-beating. Programs that address individual and structural factors promoting justification of wife-beating become necessary.
ISSN:1552-6518
DOI:10.1177/0886260520978192