Pathways between childhood trauma, intimate partner violence, and harsh parenting: findings from the UN Multi-country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific

BACKGROUND: Although childhood trauma and violence against women are global public health issues, few population-based data from low-income and middle-income countries exist about the links between them. We present data from the UN Multi-country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific, exploring the pathways between different forms of childhood trauma and violence against women. METHODS: In this multicountry study, we interviewed multistage representative samples of men and women, aged 18-49 years, in Asia and the Pacific, using standardised population-based household surveys. Men were interviewed in six countries, and women in four. Respondents were asked questions about their perpetration or experience of intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence, childhood trauma, and harsh parenting (smacking their children as…