Masters Degrees (Mathematical Sciences)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Mathematical Sciences) by Subject "Age disparity in sexual relationships -- Sub-Saharan Africa"

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    A meta-analysis of the association between intimate partner violence and age disparity in sub-Saharan Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Otieno, Fanuel Omondi; Delva, Wim; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Science. Dept. of Mathematical Sciences.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common form of violence against women and a worldwide human rights and public health problem. IPV against women can be emotional, physical, and sexual in nature. The current body of research has identified multiple risk factors for IPV including age disparity between women and their partners. Studies that have looked at age disparity as a risk factor of IPV show conflicting results. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the association between IPV against women experienced within 12 months before the survey and age disparity using survey data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) collected in 21 sub-Saharan African countries. Two-stage sample weights were proportionally used to represent the different countries. The age disparity was divided into two groups: relationships where the age difference (age of the male partner minus age of the woman) was less than five years and those where the age difference was five or more years. Three generalized linear models were used to estimate relative risk (RR) of the association between IPV and age disparity. These models were: modified Poisson regression, logistic regression model where RR was estimated from odds ratio, and log-binomial model. Modified Poisson regression proved to be a better model after comparing the three models using DHS data. The RR from modified Poisson regression model were pooled in a meta-analysis. A random-effects model was used in the meta-analyses. We found that weighted relative risk averages (WRRAs) from the meta-analysis were less than 1, and significant at alpha = 0.05 level for less severe and severe physical violence, which suggest that having an older partner has a protective effect against physical IPV. This study also indicates high country heterogeneity. For instance, results from Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone indicated that having an older partner is protective against emotional and less severe IPV, while the results show that having an older partner puts a woman at a higher risk of experiencing emotional and less severe IPV in Kenya. We also calculated the prevalence of IPV against women and found that there is high prevalence of IPV against women in sub-Saharan Africa. In conclusion, this study shows an association between IPV and age disparity but the association is country dependent. We speculate that heterogeneities in underlying socio-cultural and economic histories and current realities explain dependence. Therefore, IPV prevention programmes should be country dependent when considering age disparity as a risk factor for IPV.