Determinants of Intimate Partner Violence: National and Provincial Level Analysis

Abstract

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is any form of physical, emotional or sexual abuse against an intimate partner. With 70% of the women in Pakistan having been a victim of IPV, the country is ranked as the sixth dangerous country in the world for women; Pakistan clearly has a problem that needs to be addressed. To resolve this issue, it is critical to understand the root cause of IPV, including economic and cultural factors and their order of importance. The objective of this paper is to explore the determinants of IPV in Pakistan by employing econometric and quantitative methods on individual and household level data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) 2017-18. To measure IPV we have constructed an index using the Conflict Tactics Scale, which incorporates various forms of violence including slapping, kicking, punching etc. Furthermore, we have used the Principal Component Analysis to generate variables representing two distinct dimensions of women empowerment i.e their attitudes towards domestic violence and their level of participation in decision making. Additionally, we have used the Shapley and Owen values to rank these covariates in their order of importance. The results of this paper show that women’s personal characteristics are the most important factors influencing the incidence of IPV. Furthermore, the results show that to effectively address the determinants of violence against women in the household, provincial level decomposition of the factors needs to be used so that the relevant determinants can be targeted in different provinces. This suggests that decomposed analyses should be conducted in other countries as well in order to highlight country specific determinants of global problems rather than employing blanket policies across culturally diverse areas. Additionally, the findings of this study would be most useful for policymakers to design suitable policies and intervention strategies specific to Pakistan that can help curb this human rights violation.

Keywords: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in developing countries, Sociological determinants for domestic abuse, Conflict Tactics Scale, Principal Component Analysis, Provincial Level Decomposition, Shapley and Owen

JEL Classification: B54, C12, C21, C31, C43, C55, H31, I3, Y10, Z13,