A Quarter Of South African Males Likely Using Violence Against Intimate Partners

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Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Mental Health;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 09 Sep 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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According to a study published in the September 9, 2008 issue of Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), about 27.5% of men in South Africa who have been married or have lived with a partner report using physical violence against their current or most recent female partner. The study is the first national study of its kind in South Africa and was conducted by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, Yale School of Public Health, and the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Researchers used data from the South Africa Stress and Health Study, conducted nationally in South Africa across all provinces from January 2002 to August 2004. For this particularly study, the sample consisted of 834 men who reported being married, previously married or in a cohabiting relationship and who provided information pertaining to intimate partner violence.

The worldwide rate of women who experience some type of intimate partner violence in their lifetime is between 15% and 75%. This recent study is not only unique because it focuses on South Africa, but also because it is a public health analysis that investigates risk factors for why men commit violent acts towards their intimate female partners. One key factor that increases the risk of perpetrating intimate partner violence is men's exposure to childhood violence. Researchers found that compared to men who did not witness parent violence as children, men who did were about 4 times as likely to be physically violent against their partners. Additionally, men who were abused as children also had a raised risk of violence against their partners.

Dr. Jhumka Gupta, co-author of the study, and colleague believe that these findings contribute to the battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which in South Africa is among the world's largest. "Accumulating evidence linking men's violence with their controlling and sexually risky behaviors (e.g., transactional sex, multiple partnering and inconsistent use of condoms), coupled with women's inability to demand condom use in abusive relationships, underscore how the prevention of men's violence against intimate partners may help to alter the course of South Africa's HIV epidemic," said Gupta. "Such initiatives should therefore be considered a public health priority."

Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell and South African colleagues comment in an accompanying editorial that this study cites a lower rate of intimate partner violence than in earlier studies of South Africa. Community violence, war, and the mental health issues that follow are all vital factors in our understanding of intimate partner violence. Further, it is likely that unresolved post-traumatic stress disorder is a contributor of violence against intimate partners; this is supported by studies of veterans returning from overseas wars.

"The health care system in all countries must be involved in addressing this widespread problem," concludes Dr. Campbell and colleagues.

CMAJ (2008).
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Written by: Peter M Crosta
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