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Journal of Family Violence
Published in: Journal of Family Violence 8/2013

01-11-2013 | GENDER ISSUES IN VIOLENCE AND TRAUMA

Factors Influencing Domestic and Marital Violence against Women in Ghana

Authors: Eric Y. Tenkorang, Adobea Y. Owusu, Eric H. Yeboah, Richard Bannerman

Published in: Journal of Family Violence | Issue 8/2013

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Abstract

Using the most recent version of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey and employing complementary log-log models, this study examined the causes of both physical and sexual violence among married women in Ghana. Results indicate that wealth and employment status that capture feminist explanations of domestic violence were not significantly related to both physical and sexual violence. Education was however, related to physical violence among Ghanaian women. Women who thought wife beating was justified and those who reported higher levels of control by their husbands had higher odds of experiencing physical and sexual violence. Also, compared to those who had not, women who witnessed family violence in their lives were significantly more likely to have experienced physical and sexual violence.
Footnotes
1
A practice in which a woman becomes the automatic wife of the brother of her late husband
 
2
Where widows are subjected to several acts of cruelty including pouring pepper into their eyes and private parts, severe beating etc. all in the name of paying respects to the dead husband (see Amoakohene 2004; Ampofo 1993)
 
3
Trokosi’ comes from two words, ‘Tro’ meaning God and ‘Kosi’ translated as virgin, slave or wife. The practice demands that women, in particular, young girls be given as slaves to priests of specific shrines to appease the gods or spirits of crimes perpetrated by some family members (see Amoah 2007).
 
4
A technique that helps in the determination of an “ideal” cut-off value based on the trade-offs between sensitivity and specificity. In ideal situations the desired cut-off value produces the highest sensitivity and specificity.
 
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Metadata
Title
Factors Influencing Domestic and Marital Violence against Women in Ghana
Authors
Eric Y. Tenkorang
Adobea Y. Owusu
Eric H. Yeboah
Richard Bannerman
Publication date
01-11-2013
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Family Violence / Issue 8/2013
Print ISSN: 0885-7482
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2851
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9543-8

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