Prevalence and Risk Factors of Domestic Violence against Iranian Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND Violence against women in families is the most common form of violence against them. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of domestic violence and its effects on married women of Ilam. METHODS In this descriptive-sectional research, 334 married women referred to medical health centers in Ilam were selected to participate using a random sampling method. After obtaining their consent to participate in the study, participants responded to a 46 items questionnaire and responses were analyzed using IBM SPSS for Windows ver. 20.0 (IBM Co., Armonk, NY, USA). RESULTS The majority of the participants reported experiencing domestic violence and emotional violence was more prevalent than other kinds of violence. Logistic regression analysis showed that lower education level, marriage at a younger age, shorter duration of marriage, fewer children, being a housewife, and husband's unemployment had a significant relationship with domestic violence against women. CONCLUSION The high prevalence of wife abuse in Ilam especially emotional violence due to lower education levels and marriage at younger age could be a serious threat for women's health as well as for other members of the family. This could be a grounding factor for other social harms such as suicide and this issue must be studied from legal, religious, and cultural standpoints.