Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women and Its Contributing Factors in Tehran, Iran

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health and social concern affecting women globally. In many societies, including Iran, its high prevalence and serious consequences highlight the need for a deeper understanding. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of intimate partner violence and examine its contributing factors among married women in Tehran, Iran.

This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical research was conducted from February 2020 to June 2020. A total of 471 individuals were chosen through the convenience sample approach. The study's questionnaire comprised 2 sections: demographic information and Haj-Yahia's (1999) Violence Against Women Scale. We used the Shapiro-Wilk, t test, Mann-Whitney U-test, or χ2 test, and multiple linear regression analysis. All statistical analyses were performed by STATA Version 14 software.

The mean age was 32.7 ± 7.96 years. The prevalence of intimate partner violence was 92.14%. Additionally, the prevalence of psychological, physical, sexual, and economic violence was 91.08%, 46.71%, 41.4%, and 29.3%, respectively. The husband's education level (β = 0.751, 95% CI: 0.115 to 1.387, P = 0.021), husband's addiction (β = 5.671, 95% CI: 2.585 to 8.758, P ≤ 0.001), duration of marriage (β = 0.130, 95% CI: 0.024 to 0.236, P = 0.016), imposed marriage (β = 4.313, 95% CI: 1.480 to 7.146, P = 0.003), and consanguineous marriage (β = -2.651, 95% CI: -4.327to -0.976, P = 0.002) were associated with intimate partner abuse.

Given the high prevalence of intimate partner violence, especially during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and its association with factors such as education, addiction, and marriage characteristics, these findings highlight the urgent need for increased awareness and policy interventions. The broad definition of IPV used in this study, where any "once or more" response was classified as positive, may have inflated the prevalence. Additionally, due to the pandemic's constraints, the online sampling method likely introduced bias by targeting individuals more likely to report IPV. These factors should be considered when interpreting the findings, and further research with stricter definitions and diverse sampling methods is recommended. Developing screening programs for the early identification of IPV is essential.