Exploring the associations between intimate partner violence and women’s mental health: Evidence from a population-based study in Paraguay

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 71; no. 9; pp. 1653 - 1661
• Main Authors: Ishida, Kanako, Stupp, Paul, Melian, Mercedes, Serbanescu, Florina, Goodwin, Mary
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2010; Elsevier; Pergamon Press Inc
• Series: Social Science & Medicine
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Alcohol Abuse; Battered Women - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child abuse; Common mental disorders; Domestic violence; Drinking Behavior; Emotional Abuse; Female; Females; Health Problems; Health Surveys; Hispanic people; Humans; Intimate partner violence; Latin America; Male; Medical sciences; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Health; Methodology (Data Collection); Miscellaneous; Paraguay; Paraguay - epidemiology; Paraguay Intimate partner violence Child abuse Sexual abuse Mental health Common mental disorders Suicidal ideation Latin America Women; Partner Abuse; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Regression analysis; Risk; Risk Factors; Sexual abuse; Socioeconomic Factors; Spouse Abuse - psychology; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide; Victimology; Victims of violence; Women; Young Adult; South America; Paraguay; America; Latin America; Women; Child abuse; Intimate partner violence; Mental health; Sexual abuse; Paraguay; Suicidal ideation; Common mental disorders; Latin America; Human; Marital relation; Evidence-based practice; Victimology; Statistical study; Evidence-based medicine; Mistreatment; Association; Mental disorder; Female; Social medicine; Woman; Suicide ideation; Public health
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.08.007

Using a nationally representative sample from the 2008 Paraguayan National Survey of Demography and Sexual and Reproductive Health, we examine the association between emotional, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) and mental health among women aged 15–44 years who have ever been married or in a consensual union. The results from multivariate logistic regression models demonstrate that controlling for women’s socioeconomic and marital status and history of childhood abuse and their male partners’ unemployment and alcohol consumption, IPV is independently associated with an increased risk for common mental disorders (CMD) and suicidal ideation measured by the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). IPV variables substantially improve the explanatory power of the models, particularly for suicidal ideation. Emotional abuse, regardless of when it occurred, is associated with the greatest increased risk for CMD whereas recent physical abuse is associated with the greatest increased risk for suicidal ideation. These findings suggest that efforts to identify women with mental health problems, particularly suicidal ideation, should include screening for the types and history of IPV victimization.