From the battlefield to the bedroom: a multilevel analysis of the links between political conflict and intimate partner violence in Liberia

Jocelyn T D Kelly; Elizabeth Colantuoni; Courtland Robinson; Michele R Decker

doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000668

From the battlefield to the bedroom: a multilevel analysis of the links between political conflict and intimate partner violence in Liberia

BMJ Glob Health. 2018 Apr 12;3(2):e000668. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000668. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Jocelyn T D Kelly¹, Elizabeth Colantuoni², Courtland Robinson³, Michele R Decker⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
² Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
³ Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
⁴ Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Women's Health and Rights Program, Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Abstract

Objectives: Assess the link between levels of armed conflict and postconflict intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by women in Liberia.

Methods: Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project data were used to measure conflict-related fatalities in districts in Liberia during the country's civil war from 1999 to 2003. These data were linked to individual-level data from the 2007 Demographic and Health Survey, including past-year IPV. Multilevel logistic models accounting for the clustering of women within districts evaluated the relationship of conflict fatalities with postconflict past-year IPV. Additional conflict measures, including conflict events and cumulative years of conflict, were assessed.

Results: After adjusting for individual-level characteristics correlated with IPV, residence in a conflict fatality-affected district was associated with a 50% increase in risk of IPV (adjusted OR (aOR): 1.55, 95% CI 1.26 to 1.92). Women living in a district that experienced 4-5 cumulative years of conflict were also more likely to experience IPV (aOR 1.88, 95% CI 1.29 to 2.75).

Conclusion: Residing in a conflict-affected district even 5 years after conflict was associated with postconflict IPV.

Policy implications: Recognising and preventing postconflict IPV violence is important to support long-term recovery in postconflict settings.

Keywords: cross-sectional survey; public health.