The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on September 18, 2009
The European Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckp143
Intimate partner violence: last year prevalence and association with socio-economic factors among women in Madrid, Spain
Belén Zorrilla1, Marisa Pires2, Luisa Lasheras2, Consuelo Morant1, Luis Seoane2, Luis M. Sanchez3, Iñaki Galán1, Ramón Aguirre2, Rosa Ramírez1 and Maria Durbán4
1 Servicio de Epidemiología, Dirección General de Salud Pública, Consejería de Sanidad, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain
2 Servicio de Promoción de la salud, Dirección General de Salud Pública, Consejería de Sanidad y Consumo, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain
3 Centro Colaborador Cochrane Madrid, Área de Investigación y Estudios Sanitarios Agencia "Pedro Laín Entralgo", Consejería de Sanidad y Consumo. Comunidad de Madrid, Spain
4 Departamento de Estadística, Universidad Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
Correspondence: Dr Belén Zorrilla, Servicio de Epidemiología, Dirección General de Salud Pública. Consejería de Sanidad, Comunidad de Madrid, C. Julián Camarillo 4B 28037, Madrid, Spain, tel: +34 912052238, fax: +34 912040173, e-mail: belen.zorrilla{at}salud.madrid.org
Received September 3, 2008 , accepted August 19, 2009
Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem with significant consequences on women's health. This study estimates the prevalence of intimate partner violence by type among Madrid's female population and assesses the association with socio-economic variables. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2004, 2136 women aged 18–70 years, living in the Madrid region with a partner or who had been in contact with an ex-partner in the previous year, were interviewed by telephone. The questionnaire used to measure past-year intimate partner violence, consisted of a Spanish translation of the psychological and sexual violence module of the French National Survey on Violence against Women, and the physical violence module of the Conflict Tactics Scale-1. To assess the association with socio-economic factors, logistic regression models were fitted. Results: About 10.1% [confidence interval (CI) 8.9–11.5] of the women had suffered some type of IPV in the previous year. 8.6% (CI 7.4–9.8) experienced psychological violence, 2.4% (CI 1.8–3.1) physical violence and 1.1% (CI 0.68–1.6) sexual violence; the prevalence of psychological-only violence (non-physical/non-sexual) was 6.9% (CI 5.8–8.0). Factors associated with psychological-only violence were divorced or separated status and Group III (clerical workers; supervisors of manual workers) or V (unskilled manual workers) occupation. Unemployment and divorced or separated status were associated with physical violence. Conclusions: Spanish women in our study, experienced past year partner violence at a similar level as in other industrialized countries. Unemployment and low occupational status are associated with physical and psychological-only violence, respectively.
Keywords: empowerment, gender, intimate partner violence, prevalence, socioeconomic factors.