Cycles of violence among young women in Namibia: Exploring the links between childhood violence and adult intimate partner violence from the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Interpers Violence
• Personal Author:
  Velloza, Jennifer ; Davies, Luke D. ; Ensminger, Alison L. ; Theofelus, Frieda Mboshono ; Andjamba, Helena ; Kamuingona, Rahimisa ; Masseti, Greta ; Coomer, Rachel ; Forster, Norbert ; O’Malley, Gabrielle
• Description:
  Background:
  
  Physical, sexual, and emotional violence against children is a global public health crisis and is associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes. Childhood violence may also increase the risk of subsequent violence re-victimization by an intimate partner. We aimed to understand cycles of violence among adolescent girls and young women in Namibia to inform violence prevention and treatment interventions.
  
  Methods:
  
  The 2019 Namibia Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) examined the prevalence of childhood violence and intimate partner violence among 18-24 year old adolescent girls and young women (N=2434). Using the data, we assessed the prevalence of childhood violence, defined as any physical, sexual, or emotional violence victimization prior to age 18, and estimated the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) after age 18. We used a weighted logistic regression to assess whether childhood violence exposure was associated with subsequent experience of IPV after age 18.
  
  Results:
  
  Adolescent girls and young women in Namibia had a statistically significant higher odds of experiencing IPV if they had experienced any childhood violence including physical, sexual, and/or emotional violence (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.93; 95% Confidence Interval [95% CI: 1.64-5.23). IPV was also significantly associated with childhood physical (aOR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.07-3.05), sexual (aOR: 3.79; 95% CI: 2.54-5.67), or emotional (aOR: 2.39; 95% CI: 1.18-4.86) violence when each were considered separately. We also observed a dose-response relationship between the number of types of childhood violence and IPV experience as a young adult.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Childhood violence is a significant predictor of subsequent violence revictimization by an intimate partner. This analysis provides unique insights on cycles of violence among adolescent girls and young women in Namibia and points to the need for interventions during childhood to prevent violence against children and future research on intervention approaches to break this cycle among young women in sub-Saharan Africa.
  
  
• Keywords:
  Adolescent Adolescent Girls And Young Women Adult Child Female Humans Intimate Partner Violence Namibia Physical Violence Prevalence Risk Factors Sexual Partners Sexual Violence Surveys And Questionnaires Violence Against Children Violence Revictimization Young Adult

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• Source:
  J Interpers Violence. 37(23-24):NP22992-NP23014
• Pubmed ID:
  35156448
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9661872
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  K99 MH123369/MH/NIMH NIH HHSUnited States/ ; P30 MH123248/MH/NIMH NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T32 AI007140/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U2G GH001430/GH/CGH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; PEPFAR/PEPFARUnited States/
• Volume:
  37
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:a5fde4f81d7622d4853832ab32bafb49171548f0e0154a7fa0dff1ca6ef031f1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/122201/cdc_122201_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 107.62 KB ]