ISSN: 2148-4902 | E-ISSN: 2536-4553
Intimate partner violence (IPV) types are common among Turkish women from high socioeconomic status and have differing effects on child abuse and contentment with life [North Clin Istanb]
North Clin Istanb. 2020; 7(4): 359-365 | DOI: 10.14744/nci.2020.46514

Intimate partner violence (IPV) types are common among Turkish women from high socioeconomic status and have differing effects on child abuse and contentment with life

Hesna Gul1, Ahmet Gul2, Koray Kara1
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Gulhane Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
2Department of Psychiatry, Ufuk University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey

OBJECTIVE: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is an important public health problem. In this study, we aimed to investigate the exposure of IPV types, child abuse and decrease in life contentment of married women from high socioeconomic status in Turkey.
METHODS: Data were collected using an online/written questionnaire and Contentment with Life Scale. The questionnaire included definitions of physical, emotional, economic and sexual IPV and asked how many times they experienced these types of abuse.
RESULTS: We found that physical, emotional, economic and sexual IPV exposure were 19%, 45.2%, 12.5%, and 6%, respectively, which suggest that IPV types were common in this group, too. Physical child abuse was higher among physical and emotional IPV victims (p=0004, p=0.02, respectively), while emotional child abuse was higher only among physical IPV victims (p=0.01). On the other hand, exposure to economic and sexual IPV was not related to any type of child abuse in this sample (p>0.05). Physical and economic IPV victims were statistically older (p=0.004, p<0.001, respectively), married for longer time (p<0.001 for both) and had relatively lower education level (p<0.001 for both), while sexual IPV victims had lower education level than non-victims (p=0.03). We demonstrated that physical-emotional and sexual intramarital IPV significantly reduce the women’s contentment with life scores when compared with non-victims (p=0.02, p<0.001 and p=0.03, respectively).
CONCLUSION: IPV exposure is also severe among married women with high socioeconomic levels and is associated with child abuse in the family and a decrease in life contentment. Lengthened education period among women with similar socioeconomic levels may be an additional protective factor for IPV by delaying the age of marriage and increasing the individual income.

Keywords: Child abuse, contentment with life; economic abuse; emotional abuse; intimate partner violence; physical abuse; sexual abuse.

Hesna Gul, Ahmet Gul, Koray Kara. Intimate partner violence (IPV) types are common among Turkish women from high socioeconomic status and have differing effects on child abuse and contentment with life. North Clin Istanb. 2020; 7(4): 359-365

Corresponding Author: Hesna Gul
Manuscript Language: English
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