Development and Application of Individual and National Opportunity to the Experience of Intimate Partner Violence among Married Women in the Global South

Abstract

Objectives: Building on the ecological model, multicontextual opportunity theory, and southern criminology, the study developed individual- and country-level indicators of opportunity to understand the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) among married women in the Global South. Opportunity-related indicators considered the impact of globalization and variability across nations categorized as part of the Global South. Methods: Relying on data from the Demographic and Health Surveys and open-source country indicators, mixed effects logistic regression examined opportunity-related indicators on a sample of married women (N  =  239,554) from the Global South (N  =  41). Results: Exposure to motivated offenders was associated with higher odds of IPV. Individual-level vulnerability was associated with higher odds of IPV. Isolation and interviews that were interrupted, indicators of guardianship, were associated with higher odds of IPV while the number of people in the household was associated with lower odds. More Parliamentary seats held by women was associated with higher odds of IPV. Nine cross-level interactions were significant. Conclusions: National-level factors moderated the influence of individual-level opportunity, reinforcing the Global South is not monolithic. The traveling of IPV programing from the Global North to the Global South is likely ineffective. Programs must consider how context shapes individual experiences.