Individual and Community-Level Determinants of Domestic Violence in Rural Bangladesh

A cross-sectional survey of 10368 reproductive-aged women residing in two rural areas in Bangladesh examines the determinants of domestic violence at the individual and community level. The data were derived from the MCH-FP Extension Project of the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research (ICDDR). Household characteristics parental support and wifes status/autonomy were the individual level variables while the wifes level of educational attainment savings/credit group membership and womens mobility index were the community- level variables. A multivariate analysis was used for both the community-level and the independent-level variables. Results showed that verbal abuse represented an almost universal event among wives with almost 80% reporting its recent occurrence. 42% of wives reported having experienced recent physical violence. With regard to the…