Frequency of Spouse Abuse and its Contributory Factors in Islam Abad, Zanjan, ۲۰۰۳

Background and Objectives: Violence against women and its social, political and health outcomes has been considered as one of the most important issues in women research domain during the past decades. Regarding the lack of sufficient data in this field, the present study was conducted to investigate the frequency of mental and physical violence against women and its contributory factors in Islam Abad region, Zanjan in ۲۰۰۳. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study were carried out on ۳۰۰ families selected by random sampling. The questionaire was prepared through valid standards. To evaluate reliability, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and to determine validity face validity were used. After training the community health volunteers of population centers, the questionnaires were delivered to the families and completed by married women of the families. The results were analysed through descriptive and analytical tests (analysis of variance, correlation and regression) Results: Frequency of violence (mental and physical) against women is approximately ۲۶%. The results indicate that there is a significant difference between violence and number of children – women’s husband income-wife income-marriage satisfaction - job stress - personality type and behavior of husband (p=۰.۰۰۱). Conclusion: Extension of dialog and discussion within the family, reduction of tension and its management, applying educational measures to convince the men to change their violent conduct, empowerment of the girls and women and reforming the defective economic, social and cultural structure and ultimately education of social and individual rights can prevent or decline violence.

Keywords:

Women , Spouse abuse , Violence , Zanjan