Violence as a public health problem: An ecological study of 169 countries☆

نویسندگان

  • Achim Wolf
  • Ron Gray
  • Seena Fazel
چکیده

Individual level risk factors for violence have been widely studied, but little is known about country-level determinants, particularly in low and middle-income countries. We hypothesized that income inequality, through its detrimental effects on social cohesion, would be related to an increase in violence worldwide, and in low and middle-income countries in particular. We examined country-level associations of violence with socio-economic and health-related factors, using crime statistics from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and indicators from the Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme. Using regression models, we measured relationships between country-level factors (age, education, measures of income, health expenditure, and alcohol consumption) and four violent outcomes (including measures of violence-related mortality and morbidity) in up to 169 countries. We stratified our analyses comparing high with low and middle-income countries, and analysed longitudinal data on homicide and income inequality in high-income countries. In low and middle-income countries, income inequality was related to homicide, robbery, and self-reported assault (all p's < 0.05). In high-income countries, urbanicity was significantly associated with official assault (p = 0.002, β = 0.716) and robbery (p = 0.011, β = 0.587) rates; income inequality was related to homicide (p = 0.006, β = 0.670) and self-reported assault (p = 0.020, β = 0.563), and longitudinally with homicide (p = 0.021). Worldwide, alcohol consumption was associated with self-reported assault rates (p < 0.001, β = 0.369) suggesting public policy interventions reducing alcohol consumption may contribute to reducing violence rates. Our main finding was that income inequality was related to violence in low and middle-income countries. Public health should advocate for global action to moderate income inequality to reduce the global health burden of violence.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

The Relationship Between Gender Inequality and Happiness in Iran\'s Provinces: An Ecological Study

Background and Aim: In 2020 the rank of Iran in happiness index and gender inequality were reported to be rather low, they being, among 153 countries, 118 and 113, respectively. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between gender inequality and happiness in Iran's provinces. Materials and Methods: This ecological study was conducted based on secondary analysis of data on happiness ...

متن کامل

Health effects of air pollution in worldwide countries: an ecological study

Background and aims: Air pollution is one of the health problems worldwide. Previous epidemiological studies have investigated the impacts of air pollution on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the associations between air pollution levels and different health indicators among world countries. Methods: This eco...

متن کامل

P-151: Violence Against Women and Children:Causes, Challenges and Prevention

Background: Violence against women is a problem of public health on a global scale. Two decades of international research organizations including the World Health Organization show the problem of violence against women is more serious and more common than was previously considered. These studies aimed to investigate, the most common causes of violence against women and prevention strategy from ...

متن کامل

Domestic violence in Iranian infertile women

  Background: Millions of men and women suffer from infertility worldwide.In many cultures, infertile women are at risk of social and emotional problems.Infertility may affect the public health in many countries. Domestic violence is the intentional use of physical force, power or threat against oneself, another person or another group or community whichleadstoinjury,death,mentalharm, lackofdev...

متن کامل

Onm-5: Domestic Violence in Iranian Infertile Women

Background Millions of men and women suffer from infertility worldwide. In many cultures, infertile women are at risk of social and emotional problems. Infertility may affect the public health in many countries. Domestic violence is the intentional use of physical force, power or threat against oneself, another person or another group or community which leads to injury, death, mental harm, lack...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره 104  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2014