Association of Marital Violence with Contraceptive Use in India

Abstract

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) against women is a global issue (a prominent
social determinant of health) and a significant public health concern. Ever
married women’s ever experience of spousal physical or sexual violence has
declined from 37 per cent in NFHS-3 to 29 per cent in NFHS-4. However, there
has been almost no change in women’s experience of spousal physical or sexual
violence in the 12 months preceding each survey (24% in NFHS-3 and 22% in
NFHS-4). The infliction of physical violence has multi-dimensional implications.
On the one side, it has a long trail of ill-effects for the victims ranging from
physical, reproductive and mental health outcomes and, on the other side, it has
far-reaching consequences for family planning in India. The paper throws light
on the hidden factors that are obstacles to the use of contraception with any
violence by using the data of women’s file from NFHS-4 (2015-16). We used
binary logistic regression, multinomial logistic regression and bivariate analysis
for all the objectives. The key finding of the paper is that limiting methods are
used more than spacing methods by women experiencing physical, sexual or
emotional violence. Coordinated efforts can be undertaken to increase awareness
about the adverse impact of domestic violence on contraception.