A multilevel analysis of contextual risk factors for intimate partner violence in Ghana
| Author | Nicholas Cofie |
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758018799030 |
| Published date | 01 January 2020 |
| Date | 01 January 2020 |
Article
A multilevel analysis of
contextual risk factors
for intimate partner
violence in Ghana
Nicholas Cofie
Queen’s University, Canada
Abstract
While extant research suggests that context, structural socioeconomic and cultural factors
matter in intimate partner violence research, quantitative research on the subject in sub-Saharan
Africa, and in particular Ghana, has disproportionately focused on prevalence and individual level
correlates of spousal violence. This research has ignored the role of the structural socio-
economic and cultural factors and contexts in understanding the causes and consequences of
spousal violence in a setting where family life is heavily influenced by traditional norms and
beliefs. These norms and beliefs may lead to inadequate and ineffective interventions geared at
preventing or reducing spousal violence and its consequences. Guided by an integrated theo-
retical approach, this study addresses these issues by estimating a multilevel logistic regression
model where the effects of both individual and community level risk factors for spousal violence
are assessed. Data for the study come from the Ghana Dem ographic and Health Survey and the
Ghana Population and Housing Census. The findings confirm the salient role of structural
socioeconomic and cultural factors, such as patriarchal norms and residential instability, in the
perpetration of spousal violence against women. Policy implications of these findings and
directions for further research are discussed.
Keywords
Ghana, intimate partner violence, structural socioeconomic and cultural factors
Corresponding author:
Nicholas Cofie, Department of Sociology, Queen’sUniversity, 18 Stuart Street, Botterell Hall, Room 217, Kingston,
Ontario K7 L 2V5, Canada.
Email: cofie.nicholas.n.s@queensu.ca
International Review of Victimology
2020, Vol. 26(1) 50–78
ªThe Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0269758018799030
journals.sagepub.com/home/irv
Introduction
Spousal abuse, also known as intimate partner violence (IPV) or domestic violence is a significant
public health, economic, and human right concern worldwide (D’Avolio et al., 2001; Gazmararian
et al., 1996; Harrykissoon et al., 2002). It has been viewed as an ‘act of gender-based violence that
results in, or is likely to result in, physical, psychological or sexual harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in
private or public life’ (United Nations, 1993). Research shows that IPV is an issue regardless of a
country’s socioeconomic status with statistics showing that women are the primary victims (Black,
2011; Heise et al., 1999; Johnson, 2008). Reaching epidemic proportions in most societies (see
Alhabib et al., 2010 for a review), there has been a growing recognition that IPV is very costly and
more serious and widespread than previously understood (Watts and Zimmerman, 2002). At least
nine million disability-adjusted life years are lost globally every year because of domestic violence
(World Bank, 1993) with global estimates of physical abuse against women ranging from 16 to
50%by an intimate partner (Krug et al., 2002). About 40 to 45%of these women also report forced
sex perpetrated by such partners (Campbell and Soeken, 1999).
While much has been learned about IPV, particularly in Western settings, it is worth exploring
further to reveal factors that might be unique in understanding the phenomenon in settings where
the subject is less known empirically. Given that context matters in IPV research (see for example,
Benson et al., 2003; Cunradi et al., 2000; Heise, 1998; Koenig et al., 2003; Miles-Doan, 1998;
O’Campo et al., 1995; Pearlman et al., 2003; Qing et al., 2010; Van Wyk et al., 2003) and that
differences exist in socio-cultural practices across regions and countries, findings from Western
settings may not be necessarily generalisable to African settings. As prior research suggests, for
example, the experience of IPV in some African settings increases with educational attainment
(Alio et al., 2009; Jewkes et al., 2002), unlike in the United States where abused women tend to be
relatively less educated and more economically disadvantaged (Curry et al., 1998; Janssen et al.,
2003). Also, as Bowman (2003) points out, compared to the United States, large numbers of
women in Africa live in the countryside and are subject to customary African laws that often
reinforce the subordinate position of women within the family and thereby increase their likelihood
of abuse. This study seeks to examine the influence of macro level contextual factors on spousal
violence in the African setting of Ghana.
The current study
Although Ghana provides a unique sociocultural and economic context for examining the causes of
spousal violence, prior quantitative empirical research in this setting is yet to systematically
examine if and how broader socioeconomic and cultural factors influence the spousal victimisa-
tion. The few existing empirical studies on the subject in this regard have mainly explored
individual correlates of domestic violence victimisation among women (see Mann and Takyi,
2009; Ofei-Aboagye, 1994; Tenkorang et al., 2013) and men’s and women’s perceptions of spousal
abuse (Amoakohene, 2004; Coker-Appiah and Cusack, 1999; Takyi and Mann, 2006). The lack of
research on the subject may be attributed partly to the fact that surveys rarely collect information
on such broader contextual factors which have been shown to influence human behaviour (Britton,
2011; Gyimah et al., 2012).
As Britton (2011) points out, extensive social psychological research suggests that social
situations or contexts affect people’s behaviour, often to the extent that what they believe are
Cofie 51
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