Factors Associated with Justification of Spousal Sexual Violence (SSV) in Zambia: Evidence of the 2013-2014 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey

Background & Purpose: Despite growing awareness of domestic violence against women, spousal sexual violence (SSV) continues to be a major public health issue affecting over 30% of ever partnered women during their lifetime worldwide. In Zambia, the prevalence of SSV against women is one of the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the causes of SSV, especially within intimate relationships, are not clearly understood and therefore hamper efforts to mount effective prevention campaigns. Understanding factors associated with the justification of SSV is a crucial step in raising awareness and developing effective violence prevention strategies. This research seeks to: (1) describe the prevalence of justifying SSV, and (2) examine how media use, alcohol use, and sociodemographic characteristics predict justification of SSV.

Methods: This study utilized nationally representative data from 2013–2014 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS). The sample included 8,923 Zambian women and men (N=17,846) between the ages of 15 and 59. Associations between justification of SSV (dependent variable; yes/no) and predictors, including alcohol use (yes/no), media use (categorical frequency of reading magazines/newspapers, listening to the radio and watching television) and sociodemographic characteristics (age, resident, marital status, education level, employment, religion, and wealth index), were examined separately for men and women using binary logistic regression analyses (SPSS v. 27).

Results: Women who read newspapers/magazines less than once a week (OR=.64, p<.001), almost every day (OR=.58, p<.001), and men who read newspaper/magazine less than once a week (OR=.77, p<.001), read at least once a week (OR=.57, p<.001), and almost every day (OR=.51, p<.001) had lower odds of justifying SSV. Women who watched television almost every day (OR=.65, p<.001) had lower odds of justifying SSV. Men who use alcohol (OR=1.20, p<.001) had higher odds of justifying SSV. Additionally, women (OR=.65, p<.001) and men (OR=.74, p<.001) in rural areas had lower odds of justifying SSV. Married women (OR=1.62, p<.001) had higher odds of justifying SSV, while married men (OR=.78, p<.01) had lower odds of justifying SSV. Women with secondary or higher education (OR=.74, p<.001) had lower odds of justifying SSV, while men with primary education (OR= 1.67, p<.001) had higher odds of justifying SSV. Finally, men in the rich wealth index (OR=.49, p<.001) had lower odds of justifying SSV.

Conclusions and Implications: More females justified SSV than males. Media platforms such as newspapers/magazines and television can be utilized to promote awareness to change people’s attitudes, behavior, and social acceptability towards SSV. Additionally, education is an important prevention tool that can be used to reduce alcohol use that often leads to SSV, nurture and consolidates positive behaviors to prevent further problems of SSV. Domestic violence awareness should target married and working women, as well as uneducated men who use alcohol to achieve holistic improvement in reducing IPV, particularly SSV. Additionally, the Anti-Gender Violence and alcohol regulation policy should be seriously enforced to decrease the occurrences of SSV and cultures that perpetuate SSV in Zambia. These findings have implications for social workers providing services to the victims of SSV.