Social determinants of sexual violence against pregnant women

Abstract

Background/objectives: Violence against women is one of the major social problems in Turkey, maintains its severity as an important social problem globally. The aim of this study was determine the factors affecting sexual violence applied to women by their spouses during pregnancy. Methods: The universe of the cross-sectional study was determined as 26.271 women who gave birth in the Northeastern Anatolia Region. The sample was taken from 1025 women who had just given birth. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) package program was applied in the data analysis of the research. Data were analyzed by chi-square and logistic regression (Backward: LR). Results: Lack of civil marriage OR: 3.0 (CI: 1.7–5.1), low education level of women OR: 2.1 (CI: 1.4–3.2), unwantedness of pregnancy by men OR: 2.4 (CI: 1.5–3.8), the men's alcohol use OR: 5.7 (CI: 3.3–9.9) and low total household income OR: 1.8 (CI: 1.3–2.6) were found to be the factors affecting sexual violence during pregnancy. Conclusion: As a result, sexual violence that women are exposed to during pregnancy continues as an important public health problem. In this context, nationwide mobilization should be declared so that the laws passed by governments for the liquidation of the patriarchal family structure should also function in practice.

Keywords

• Violence
• Sexual violence
• Pregnant women
• Spouse abuse
• Turkey