Prevalence, co-occurrence, and associated factors of intimate partner violence among Brazilian university students

Abstract

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) among youth is a public health problem world-wide because of its high prevalence and lifelong serious consequences in health and quality of life. This cross-sectional census aimed to describe the IPV victimization among all freshman students in a Brazilian university (n=1,509), which was selected from a larger population of 2,706 fresh-men. We created a 10-item questionnaire in-spired by established instruments to measure the prevalence of IPV. Multivariate logistic regression assessed the association between demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral factors with var-ious types of IPV. We visualized co-occurrence using a Venn diagram and employed multinomi-al logistic regression to examine the relationship between covariates and the cooccurrence of IPV types. The chance of IPV was higher in males, those who were currently in a relationship, and those with a higher risk of alcohol abuse. These same characteristics were also associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing the co-oc-currence of two or more types of IPV. Prevention strategies should consider those groups and mon-itoring of those who abuse alcohol, which can be a predictor behavior or a mechanism to deal with the stress arising from IPV.