The Association of Education Level and Justification of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Among Women in Uganda

Background and Purpose: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) occurs everywhere and anywhere irrespective of a country’s social, economic, religious, cultural or ethnic background. When compared to men, women are more likely to suffer from IPV globally and in Africa, 45.6% of women have experienced IPV when compared to other women in the world. In Sub Saharan Africa, research indicates that 36% of women suffer from IPV while in Uganda at least 41% of women have ever reported experiencing some form of IPV. The present study seeks to answer the following question. How is the level of education associated with a woman’s justification of IPV? The aim of this study investigated and explored the association of education level with justification of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) among women in Uganda.

Methods: Secondary Data analysis was conducted using the Uganda Demographics Health Survey (DHS) data collected from Women in 2016. A chi-square and multiple logistic regression analysis were used in order to identify the association between the independent and dependent variables.

Results: Results from the multiple logistic regression model indicate that controlling for socio-demographics factors in the model (age, marital status, and employment status), education level was statistically significantly associated with a woman’s justification of IPV. Specifically, as the woman’s education level increases, the odds of justification of domestic violence decrease by 0.519 units [OR=0.519; 95% CI: 0.494, 0.546]. Employment level and age were also associated with justification of IPV among women. The odds of employed women among those who reported justification of IPV were 1.221 times the odds of those who reported having no employment [OR=1.221, 95% CI: 1.126, 1.323]. As age increases by five years, the odds of justification of IPV decrease by 0.879 units [OR = 0.879; 95% CI: 0.860, 0.897].

Conclusion: Study findings suggest that education, age, and employment are statistically significantly associated with justification of IPV among women. Specifically, education has been found to be a protective factor against IPV. The practical implication and recommendation suggested by these findings to government, civil society and international agencies is to emphasize, promote and increase incentives to see more girls enrolled in higher institutions of learning there by improving women’s educational attainment at higher levels of learning and advocate for gender equity and equality.