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Who Is at Risk? Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the Kyrgyz Republic
Authors: Elena Chernyak
Source: Violence and Gender, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/vio.2019.0004
Topic(s): Domestic violence
Employment
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
Women's health
Women’s empowerment
Country: Asia
  Kyrgyz Republic
Published: SEP 2020
Abstract: Violence against women perpetrated by intimate partners is a sufficiently serious social issue in the countries of the former Soviet Union to warrant focused attention and sociological research. Intimate partner violence (IPV) negatively impacts the health, social, and economic well-being of individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole. The objective of this study, which is based on the data from the Kyrgyz Republic Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 2012, is to analyze the extent of IPV and the factors and processes that function as predictors of physical IPV against women in the Kyrgyz Republic. The results of the present research demonstrate that 26% of the respondents reported less severe IPV, and 5.5% reported severe IPV. The results indicate that empowerment and experiential characteristics are the risk factors for IPV in the Kyrgyz Republic. Age of women, number of children, household wealth, women employment, and community educational level increase the likelihood of an experience of IPV among women in the Kyrgyz Republic while women's equal or higher earnings and community support of partner's controlling behavior decrease women's vulnerability by 30–40%. The findings of this study underscore the importance of the socioeconomic and empowerment characteristics as significant factors associated with IPV at the individual and community levels and thus support feminist and resource theories.
Web: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vio.2019.0004