Exploring the association between attitudes towards wife beating and intimate partner violence using a dyadic approach in three sub-Saharan African countries.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examines the association between attitudes towards wife beating and intimate partner violence (IPV) using a dyadic approach in three sub-Saharan countries. SETTING: We use data from the most recent Demographic and Health Survey cross-sectional studies which were conducted between 2015 and 2018 in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe PARTICIPANTS: Our sample comprised 9183 couples who also had completed the information on the domestic violence questions and our variables of interest. RESULTS: Our results indicate that women in these three countries are generally comparatively more inclined to justify marital violence than their husbands or partners. In terms of IPV experience, we found that when both partners endorsed wife beating, the risk of experiencing IPV was twice as likely after controlling for other couple-level and individual factors (OR=1.91, 95% CI 1.54-2.50, emotional violence; OR=2.42, 95% CI 1.96-3.00, physical violence; OR=1.97, 95% CI 1.47-2.61, sexual violence). The risk of IPV was also higher when the women alone endorsed IPV (OR=1.59, 95% CI 1.35-1.86, emotional violence; OR=1.85, 95% CI 1.59-2.15, physical violence; OR=1.83, 95% CI 1.51-2.22, sexual violence) than when the men alone were tolerant (OR=1.41, 95% CI 1.13-1.75, physical violence; OR=1.43, 95% CI 1.08-1.90, sexual violence). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirm that attitudes towards violence are perhaps one of the key indicators of IPV prevalence. Therefore, to break the cycle of violence in the three countries, more attention must be paid to attitudes towards the acceptability of marital violence. Programmes tailored to gender role transformation and promote non-violent gender attitudes are also needed.

Predicting the Vulnerability of Women to Intimate Partner Violence in South Africa: Evidence from Tree-based Machine Learning Techniques.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive social challenge with severe health and demographic consequences. Global statistics indicate that more than a third of women have experienced IPV at some point in their lives. In South Africa, IPV is considered a significant contributor to the country's broader problem with violence and a leading cause of femicide. Consequently, IPV has been the major focus of legislation and research across different disciplines. The present article aims to contribute to the growing scholarly literature by predicting factors that are associated with the risk of experiencing IPV. We used the 2016 South African Demographic and Health Survey dataset and restricted our analysis to 1,816 ever-married women who had complete information on the variables that were used to generate IPV. Prior research has mainly used regression analysis to identify correlates of IPV; however, while regression analysis can test a priori specified effects, it cannot capture unspecified inter-relationship across factors. To address this limitation, we opted for machine learning methods, which identify hidden and complex patterns and relationships in the data. Our results indicate that the fear of the husband is the most critical factor in determining the experience of IPV. In other words, the risk of IPV in South Africa is associated more with the husband or partner's characteristics than the woman's. The models developed in this study can be used to develop interventions by different stakeholders such as social workers, policymakers, and or other interested partners.

The impact of girl child marriage on the completion of the first cycle of secondary education in Zimbabwe: A propensity score analysis.

BACKGROUND: The association between girl child marriage and education is widely acknowledged; however, there is no large body of demographic studies from Zimbabwe that have addressed this aspect. This study aimed to examine the extent to which child marriage affects one academic milestone, i.e. completion of the Ordinary Level, the first cycle of high school, which is also the most critical indicator of educational achievement in Zimbabwe. METHODS: We used the 2015 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey and extracted 2380 cases of ever-married women aged between 20-29 years. We applied a propensity score-based method, which allowed us to mimic a hypothetical experiment and estimate outcomes between treated and untreated subjects. RESULTS: Our results suggest that child age at first marriage is concentrated between the ages of 15-22, with the typical age at first marriage being 18 years. Both logistic regression and PSM models revealed that early marriage decreased the chances of completing the first cycle of high school. Regression adjustment produced an estimate of prevalence ratio (PR) of 0.446 (95% CI: 0.374-0.532), while PSM resulted in an estimate (PR = 0.381; 95% CI: 0.298-0.488). CONCLUSION: These results have implications for Zimbabwe's development policy and suggest that girl-child marriage is a significant barrier to educational attainment. If not addressed, the country will most likely fail to meet sustainable development Goal 4.2 and 5.3. Social change interventions that target adults and counter beliefs about adolescent sexuality and prepubescent marriage should be put in place. Moreover, interventions that keep teenage girls in school beyond the first cycle of high school should be prioritised.

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SEXUAL BEHAVIOURS AND INITIATION OF POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Although young people in South Africa are growing up in an era where their socioeconomic circumstances are seemingly better than those of their parents' generation, they face greater risks in their trajectory to adulthood. This is mainly because the environment in which they are making sexual decisions is also rapidly evolving. Currently, South Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the world among young people aged 15-24. This study examined the effect of sexual behaviours initiated in adolescence on enrolment in post-secondary education. The analysis was conducted using data from the longitudinal Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS, Waves 1-5) conducted in 2002-2009, which focused on young people's sexual behaviours in Cape Town, South Africa. The sample was restricted to 3213 individuals who reported sexual debut during adolescence. Using logistic regression models fitted separately for males and females, the results revealed that several factors acted as either hindrances or protective factors to enrolment in post-secondary education. Early sexual debut (by age 17) was negatively associated with participation in tertiary education. Other variables that had a negative effect included not using contraception at first sex, parenthood, engaging in risky behaviours such as illegal substance use, cigarette smoking and drinking alcohol and neglect of school homework (doing less than an hour a day). Higher levels of parental education (except for paternal education in the female model), urban residence and higher aspirations and analogous behaviours (studying) acted as protective factors and were positively associated with post-secondary education initiation. The paper also points to the relationship between early sexual debut and persistent socioeconomic inequality and provides empirical evidence for re-thinking policy development and implementation around schooling and sex education.