Armed Conflict, Alcohol Misuse, Decision-Making, and Intimate Partner Violence among Women in Northeastern Uganda: A Population Level Study
Citation:
Mootz, Jennifer J., Florence Kyoheirwe Muhanguzi, Pavel Panko, Patrick Onyango Mangen, Milton L. Wainberg, Ilana Pinsky, and Kaveh Khoshnood. 2018. "Armed Conflict, Alcohol Misuse, Decision-Making, and Intimate Partner Violence among Women in Northeastern Uganda: A Population Level Study." Conflict and Health 12: 1-11.
Authors: Jennifer J. Mootz, Florence Kyoheirwe Muhanguzi, Pavel Panko, Patrick Onyango Mangen, Milton L. Wainberg, Ilana Pinsky, Kaveh Khoshnood
Abstract:
Background: Relations among and interactions between exposure to armed conflict, alcohol misuse, low socioeconomic status, gender (in)equitable decision-making, and intimate partner violence (IPV) represent serious global health concerns. Our objective was to determine extent of exposure to these variables and test pathways between these indicators of interest.
Methods: We surveyed 605 women aged 13 to 49 who were randomly selected via multistage sampling across three districts in Northeastern Uganda in 2016. We used Mplus 7.4 to estimate a moderated structural equation model of indirect pathways between armed conflict and intimate partner violence for currently partnered women (n = 558) to evaluate the strength of the relationships between the latent factors and determine the goodness-of-fit of the proposed model with the population data.
Results: Most respondents (88.8%) experienced conflict-related violence. The lifetime/ past 12 month prevalence of experiencing intimate partner violence was 65.3%/ 50.9% (psychological) and 59.9%/ 43.8% (physical). One-third (30.7%) of women’s partners reportedly consumed alcohol daily. The relative fit of the structural model was superior (CFI = 0.989; TLI = 0.989). The absolute fit (RMSEA = 0.029) closely matched the population data. The partner and joint decision-making groups significantly differed on the indirect effect through partner alcohol use (a1b1 = 0.209 [0.017: 0.467]).
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that male partner alcohol misuse is associated with exposure to armed conflict and intimate partner violence—a relationship moderated by healthcare decision-making. These findings encourage the extension of integrated alcohol misuse and intimate partner violence policy and emergency humanitarian programming to include exposure to armed conflict and gendered decision-making practices.
Keywords: armed conflict, Uganda, alcohol use, domestic violence, decision-making
Topics: Armed Conflict, Economies, Poverty, Domestic Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Households, Humanitarian Assistance, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda
Year: 2018
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