Prevalence and correlates of experience of intimate partner violence among men and women in Eastern DRC

This manuscript used large-scale survey data to examine the prevalence and risk factors for intimate partner violence (IPV) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We examine three forms of IPV: physical, sexual and emotional. The data show that two of every five women and more than one quarter of the men had reportedly ever experienced physical form of IPV while one quarter of women and 15.7 percent of men reported sexual form of IPV. In addition, about one quarter of women reported ever experiencing public humiliation from their husband or partner. The risk factors for IPV differ for men and women and depend on the type of IPV. For men, the strongest and most protective factors against physical IPV include current employment and gender-equitable attitudes. The strongest risk factors for experiencing sexual violence among men were young age and problematic use of alcohol while gender-equitable attitudes and residence in Nord Kivu were protective. For women, young age, low education, partner problematic use of alcohol and recent experience of public humiliation were the strongest risk factors for IPV. The programmatic implications of the findings are discussed.