Factors influencing gender-based violence: are there differences between adolescents (15-19) and young women (20-24)?

Abstract

This study aimed at systematically examining the factors influencing gender based violence among women 19-24 in Uganda. GBV is a global public health problem that poses challenges in human health, with a higher prevalence in developing countries. It can include sexual, physical, mental and economic harm inflicted against anyone in public or in private spheres. It also includes threats of violence, coercion and manipulation. The consequences of gender based violence are devastating and can have life-long repercussions for survivors. The topic is therefore an important aspect to work on in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG‟s) target of eliminating all forms of violence in Sub Saharan Africa. This study involved the quantitative analysis of the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey UDHS) data conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. The UDHS is based on a cross-sectional nationally representative survey design that employed a stratified two-stage cluster sampling design and is a representative of women age 15-49 years. The study included all women of reproductive age, 15-24 in the women's individual recode or dataset. The sample of 8086 women aged 15-24 was selected as the final sample for this study. Factors influencing gender-based violence were considered as the explanatory variables. Descriptive statistics were used to establish the frequency of each variable. At bivariate analysis, a chi square test statistic was used to establish the simple relationships between the independent and dependent variables. I used binary logistic regression to determine the relationship between dependent variable and explanatory variables and in cases where the level of significance was less than 0.05 (p-value <0.05), that indicated a significant association between the independent and dependent variable. This study found out that the overall prevalence of gender based violence among women aged 15-24 was 11%. More than half of the sample (53%) comprised women aged 15–19. Results from multivariate logistic regression show that age, religion, wealth index, occupation, region, husband drinking alcohol, and witnessed parental violence are significantly associated with gender based violence. High prevalence of gender-based violence among adolescents and young adult women in Uganda has been reported by this study. This has great implications for the general wellbeing as it affects all spheres of lives. Intervention strategies such public enlightenment on the effects of gender based violence on both women and men in all relationships should therefore be carried out to curb the vice. In addition, pre-marital counseling and conflict resolution strategies especially among couples should be strongly intensified to ameliorate the situation.