Socioeconomic Differences of Intimate Partner Violence among Married Women in Indonesia: Does Poverty Matter?

BACKGROUND: Society placed women living in the men’s world as inferior. Poverty as a stressor for men has the opportunity to make women victims of violence from their partners. The study aimed to analyze the effects of poverty on the risk of intimate partner violence among married women in Indonesia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The samples used were married women aged 15-49 years old. The weighted sample size was 34,086 women. Besides intimate partner violence as the dependent variable, other variables analyzed as independent variables were wealth status, residence, age, education, employment, living with in-laws, and recent sexual activity. The study employs binary logistic regression to determine intimate partner violence risk in the final stage. RESULTS: The results show the poorest married women were 1.382 times more likely than the richest married women to experience intimate partner violence. Married women with wealthy status in the lower category were 1.320 times more likely than the richest married women to experience intimate partner violence. Married women with a wealthy group in the middle class were 1.262 times more likely than the richest married women to experience intimate partner violence. Married women with wealthy status in the more decadent category were 1.132 times more likely than the richest married women to experience intimate partner violence. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that poverty was a risk factor for intimate partner violence among married women in Indonesia. The lower the socioeconomic status, the greater the risk of intimate partner violence.