A National Study on Psychological Violence in Brazil: Differences by Sex and Skin Color

Abstract

Violence is a global public health problem that affects especially the most vulnerable people. The aim was to analyze the prevalence of psychological violence in the Brazilian population and inequalities according to sex and skin color. This was a cross-sectional study in which the database of the National Health Survey 2019 was used. Psychological violence was considered present when an individual answered yes to at least one of the five variables investigated: In the last 12 months, has anyone (a) offended you, humiliated you, or ridiculed you in front of other people?; (b) yelled at you or called you names?; (c) used social media or cell phones to threaten, offend, curse, or expose your images without your consent?; (d) threatened to hurt you or hurt someone important to you?; and (e) destroyed something of yours on purpose? The independent variable was skin color. The crude prevalence ratio (PR) was determined by Poisson regression. All analyses were stratified by sex. Of the 88,531 respondents, 41,662 were males and 46,869 were females. The prevalence of the presence of psychological violence was 19% in women and 15.6% in men. Men and women with black/brown/yellow/indigenous skin color were 20% and 15% more likely to suffer one or more items of psychological violence, respectively, than men and women with white skin color ( PR = 1.20; 95% CI [1.11, 1.30] and PR = 1.15; 95% CI [1.08, 1.23]). Psychological violence occurred predominantly against females and individuals with black/brown/yellow/indigenous skin color. There were notable inequalities in the exposure to this type of violence that need to be considered when making plans to address this problem. The findings emphasize the relevance of constantly reviewing political and social constructions to promote a reduction of inequalities.