Alcohol drinking by husbands/partners is associated with higher intimate partner violence against women in Angola

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV), as the most prevalent form of violence against women, is acommonly encountered phenomenon across sub-Saharan African countries, including Angola. As afast-growing economy, Angola is experiencing a booming alcohol industry and persistent IPV andwomen's rights issues, along with weak prohibition and enforcement against this practice. However,so far, there is no systematic research investigating the predictors of IPV in Angola and whetherspousal alcohol drinking has any relationship with women's experience of IPV. Therefore, in thisstudy, we aimed to assess the predictors of IPV (defined as physical, emotional, and sexual violence)among Angolan women with a special focus on their partners' alcohol drinking habit. Cross-sectionaldata on 7669 women aged 15-49 years from the Angola Demographic and Health Survey wereused for this study. Data were analyzed using descriptive and logistic regression methods. Resultsindicated that physical IPV (32.3%, 95% Confidence Interval = 30.3 to 34.5) was most prevalent,followed by emotional (27.3%, 95% CI = 25.3 to 29.4) and sexual IPV (7.4%, 95% CI = 6.6 to 8.4). In themultivariate analysis, higher education and household wealth status showed protective effects againstcertain forms of IPV. Alcohol drinking by husbands/partners was associated with significantly higherodds of experiencing physical [OR = 2.950; 95% CI = 2.632, 3.306], emotional [OR = 2.470; 95% CI= 2.187,2.789], and sexual IPV [OR = 2.729; 95% CI = 2.220, 3.354] among women. Women whoreported experiencing physical IPV had increased odds of drinking alcohol [OR = 1.474; 95% CI =1.290, 1.684] compared with those who did not. These findings reflect the widespread prevalence ofIPV in sub-Saharan African countries. Special focus should be given to married men with alcoholdrinking habits to reduce women's vulnerability to IPV and dependence on alcohol use.