Does Relation Between Women’s Justification of Wife Beating and Intimate Partner Violence Differ in Context of Husband’s Controlling Attitudes in Nigeria?

Abstract

Controlling and domineering attitudes of husbands are risk factors for women’s experience of physical, sexual, and emotional violence in Nigeria. Other studies imply that husband’s attitudes may also influence the risk of women’s justification of wife beating. Consistently, it was hypothesized that husband’s controlling and domineering attitudes would influence the relationship between women’s justification of wife beating and the three types of violence experience. Participants were 19,360 nationally representative sample of married women in Nigeria. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Regression analyses were conducted to analyze the contributions of justification of wife beating and husband attitudes to the three types of women’s violence experience. Findings showed that women who justified wife beating experienced more physical, sexual, and emotional violence. The relationship of justification of wife beating still persisted with sexual and emotional violence in the context of husband’s controlling and domineering attitudes. Implications of study findings were discussed.