Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T03:20:24.291Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AND CONTRACEPTIVE USE IN INDIA: THE MODERATING INFLUENCE OF CONFLICTING FERTILITY PREFERENCES AND CONTRACEPTIVE INTENTIONS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2017

Walter Forrest*
Affiliation:
School of Social Science and Institute for Social Science Research, University of Queensland, Australia ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, Australia
Dharmalingam Arunachalam
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Australia
Kannan Navaneetham
Affiliation:
Department of Population Studies, University of Botswana, Botswana
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Summary

Several studies report that women exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) are less likely to use contraception, but the evidence that violence consistently constrains contraceptive use is inconclusive. One plausible explanation for this ambiguity is that the effects of violence on contraceptive use depend on whether couples are likely to have conflicting attitudes to it. In particular, although some men may engage in violence to prevent their partners from using contraception, they are only likely to do so if they have reason to oppose its use. Using a longitudinal follow-up to the Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2), conducted among a sample of rural, married women of childbearing age, this study investigated whether the relationship between IPV and contraceptive use is contingent on whether women’s contraceptive intentions contradict men’s fertility preferences. Results indicate that women experiencing IPV are less likely to undergo sterilization, but only if they intended to use contraception and their partners wanted more children (Average Marginal Effect (AME)=−0.06; CI=−0.10, −0.01). Violence had no effect on sterilization among women who did not plan to use contraception (AME=−0.02; CI=−0.06, 0.03) or whose spouses did not want more children (AME=−0.01; CI=−0.9, 0.06). These results imply that violence enables some men to resolve disagreements over the use of contraception by imposing their fertility preferences on their partners. They also indicate that unmet need for contraception could be an intended consequence of violence.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmed, S., Li, Q., Liu, L. & Tsui, A. O. (2012) Maternal deaths averted by contraceptive use. An analysis of 172 countries. The Lancet 380(9837), 111125.Google Scholar
Alio, A. P., Daley, E. M., Nana, P. N., Duan, J. & Salihu, H. M. (2009) Intimate partner violence and contraception use among women in sub-Saharan Africa. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 107(1), 3538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alio, A. P., Salihu, H. M., Nana, P. N., Clayton, H. B., Mbah, A. K. & Marty, P. J. (2011) Association between intimate partner violence and induced abortion in Cameroon. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 112(2), 8387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alkema, L., Kantorova, V., Menozzi, C. & Biddlecom, A. (2013) National, regional, and global rates and trends in contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning between 1990 and 2015: a systematic and comprehensive analysis. The Lancet 381(9878), 16421652.Google Scholar
Bankole, A. (1995) Desired fertility and fertility behaviour among the Yoruba of Nigeria: a study of couple preferences and subsequent fertility. Population Studies 49(2), 317328.Google Scholar
Becker, S. (1996) Couples and reproductive health: a review of couple studies. Studies in Family Planning 27(6), 291306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bhat, P. N. M. & Zavier, A. J. F. (2003) Fertility decline and gender bias in northern India. Demography 40(4), 637657.Google Scholar
Bloom, S. S. & Griffiths, P. L. (2007) Female autonomy as a contributing factor to women’s HIV-related knowledge and behaviour in three culturally contrasting states in India. Journal of Biosocial Science 39(4), 557573.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. C. (2002) Health consequences of intimate partner violence. The Lancet 359(9314), 13311336.Google Scholar
Chan, R. L. & Martin, S. L. (2009) Physical and sexual violence and subsequent contraception use among reproductive aged women. Contraception 80(3), 276281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chandra-Mouli, V., McCarraher, D., Phillips, S., Williamson, N. & Hainsworth, G. (2014) Contraception for adolescents in low and middle income countries: needs, barriers, and access. Reproductive Health 11(1), 18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dalal, K., Andrews, J. & Dawad, S. (2012) Contraception use and associations with intimate partner violence among women in Bangladesh. Journal of Biosocial Science 44(1), 8394.Google Scholar
Dharmalingam, A. & Morgan, S. P. (2004) Pervasive Muslim–Hindu fertility differences in India. Demography 41(3), 529545.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Devries, K. M., Joelle, Y., Mak, T., García-Moreno, C., Petzold, M., Child, J. C. et al. (2013) The global prevalence of intimate partner violence against women. Science 340(6140), 15271528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fanslow, J., Whitehead, A., Silva, M. & Robinson, E. (2008) Contraceptive use and associations with intimate partner violence among a population-based sample of New Zealand women. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 48(1), 8389.Google Scholar
Fantasia, H. C., Sutherland, M. A., Fontenot, H. B. & Lee-St. John, T. J. (2012) Chronicity of partner violence, contraceptive patterns and pregnancy risk. Contraception 86(5), 530535.Google Scholar
Felson, R. & Messner, S. (2000) The control motive in intimate partner violence. Social Psychology Quarterly 63(1), 8694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Moreno, C., Jansen, H. A. F. M., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L. & Watts, C. H. (2006) Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence. The Lancet 368(9543), 12601269.Google Scholar
Hathaway, J. E., Willis, G., Zimmer, B. & Silverman, J. G. (2005) Impact of partner abuse on women’s reproductive lives. Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association 60(1), 4245.Google Scholar
Hossain, M. B., Phillips, J. F. & Mozumder, A. B. M. K. A. (2007) The effect of husbands’ fertility preferences on couples’ reproductive behaviour in rural Bangladesh. Journal of Biosocial Science 39(5), 745757.Google Scholar
IIPS & Macro International (2007) National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 2005–06, India, Vol. I. International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai.Google Scholar
Kalichman, S. C., Williams, E. A., Cherry, C., Belcher, L. & Nachimson, D. (1998) Sexual coercion, domestic violence, and negotiating condom use among low-income African-American women. Journal of Women’s Health 7(3), 371378.Google Scholar
Kaye, D. K. (2006) Community perceptions and experiences of domestic violence and induced abortion in Wakiso District, Uganda. Qualitative Health Research 16(8), 11201128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNay, K., Arokiasamy, P. & Cassen, R. (2003) Why are uneducated women in India using contraception? A multilevel analysis. Population Studies 57(1), 2140.Google Scholar
Maharaj, P. & Cleland, J. (2005) Risk perception and condom use among married or cohabiting couples in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. International Family Planning Perspectives 31(1), 2429.Google Scholar
Martin, S. L., Kilgallen, B., Tsui, A. O., Maltra, K., Singh, K. & Kupper, L. (1999) Sexual behaviours and reproductive health outcomes: associations with wife abuse in India. Journal of the American Medical Association 282(20), 19671972.Google Scholar
Mason, K. O. & Smith, H. L. (2000) Husbands’ versus wives’ fertility goals and use of contraception: the influence of gender context in five Asian countries. Demography 37(3), 299311.Google Scholar
Maxwell, L., Devries, K., Zionts, D., Alhusen, J. L. & Campbell, J. (2015) Estimating the effect of intimate partner violence on women’s use of contraception: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 10(2), 125.Google Scholar
Meekers, D. (2000) Going underground and going after women: trends in sexual risk behaviour among gold miners in South Africa. International Journal of STD and AIDS 11(1), 2126.Google Scholar
Miller, E., Decker, M. R., McCauley, H. L., Tancredi, D. J., Levenson, R. R., Waldman, J. et al. (2010a) Pregnancy coercion, intimate partner violence and unintended pregnancy. Contraception 81, 316322.Google Scholar
Miller, E., Decker, M. R., Reed, E., Raj, A., Hathaway, J. E. & Silverman, J. G. (2007) Male partner pregnancy-promoting behaviors and adolescent partner violence: findings from a qualitative study with adolescent females. Ambulatory Pediatrics 7(5), 360366.Google Scholar
Miller, E., Jordan, B., Levenson, R. & Silverman, J. G. (2010b) Reproductive coercion, connecting the dots between partner violence and unintended pregnancy. Contraception 81(6), 457459.Google Scholar
Moore, A. M., Frohwirth, L. & Miller, E. (2010) Male reproductive control of women who have experienced intimate partner violence in the United States. Social Science & Medicine 70, 17371744.Google Scholar
Moursund, A. & Kravdal, Ø. (2003) Individual and community effects of women’s education and autonomy on contraceptive use in India. Population Studies 57(3), 285301.Google Scholar
Ogunjuyigbe, P. O., Akinlo, A. & Oni, G. O. (2010) Violence against women as a factor in unmet need for contraception in southwest Nigeria. Journal of Family Violence 25(2), 123130.Google Scholar
O’Hara, K., Tsai, L. C., Carlson, C. E. & Haidar, Y. M. (2013) Experiences of intimate-partner violence and contraception use among ever-married women in Jordan. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal 19(10), 876882.Google Scholar
Okenwa, L., Lawoko, S. & Jansson, B. (2011) Contraception, reproductive health and pregnancy outcomes among women exposed to intimate partner violence in Nigeria. European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care 16(1), 1825.Google Scholar
Pallitto, C. C., Campbell, J. C. & O’Campo, P. (2005) Is intimate partner violence associated with unintended pregnancy? A review of the literature. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse 6(3), 217235.Google Scholar
Pallitto, C. C. & O’Campo, P. (2004) The relationship between intimate partner violence and unintended pregnancy: analysis of a national sample from Colombia. International Family Planning Perspectives 30(4), 165173.Google Scholar
Raj, A. & McDougal, L. (2015) Associations of intimate partner violence with unintended pregnancy and pre-pregnancy contraceptive use in South Asia. Contraception 91(6), 456463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rao, V. (1997) Wife-beating in rural South India: a qualitative and econometric analysis. Social Science & Medicine 48(8), 11691180.Google Scholar
Sedgh, G., Hussain, R., Bankole, A. & Singh, S. (2007) Women with an Unmet Need for Contraception in Developing Countries and their Reasons for not Using a Method. Occasional Report No. 37. Guttmacher Institute, New York.Google Scholar
Silverman, J., Gupta, J., Decker, M., Kapur, N. & Raj, A. (2007) Intimate partner violence and unwanted pregnancy, miscarriage, induced abortion, and stillbirth among a national sample of Bangladeshi women. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 114, 12461252.Google Scholar
Stephenson, R., Jadhav, A. & Hindin, M. (2013) Physical domestic violence and subsequent contraceptive adoption among women in rural India. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 28(5), 10201039.Google Scholar
Stephenson, R., Koenig, M. A., Acharya, R. & Roy, T. K. (2008) Domestic violence, contraceptive use, and unwanted pregnancy in rural India. Studies in Family Planning 39(3), 177186.Google Scholar