Suicide Ideation Among Intimate Partner Violence Victims in Colombia: A Cross-Sectional Survey Using a Nationally...

Intimate Partner Violence is a significant public health problem that contributes to negative health consequences. This study aimed to identify the association of suicide ideation and intimate partner violence (IPV) among men and women in Colombia.

We used secondary data from the 2015 Colombia Demographic Health Survey (DHS). Logistic regression was used to examine the association between suicide ideation and explanatory variables, stratified by sex. The outcome was suicide ideation, while the independent variables were IPV type (psychological, physical, and sexual violence), age, place of residence, education level, marital status, employment status, wealth index, ownership of assets, parental violence, spousal controlling behavior, physically hurt a partner and number of sex partners.

Approximately 12.1% of females and 3.4% of males reported suicide ideation due to IPV. By type of IPV, the prevalence of suicide ideation for psychological, physical and sexual IPV was 21.7%, 21.2%, and 35.4% among females and 7.3%, 6.6%, and 14.9% among males respectively. Among females, the odds of suicide ideation by IPV type were: OR 6.06, (95% CI 5.06, 7.25) for physical IPV, OR 5.32 (95% CI 4.03, 7.24) for psychological IPV, and OR 4.16 (95% CI 3.47, 4.99) for sexual IPV. The odds of suicide ideation among males were OR 2.67 (95% CI 2.00, 3.56) for physical IPV, OR 4.17 (95% CI, 3.00, 5.78) for psychological IPV and OR 3.11 (95% CI 1.80, 5.39) for sexual IPV. Separated/widowed individuals, rural residents, and perpetrating physical violence had higher odds of suicide ideation across both genders.

Suicidal ideation was associated with psychological, physical, and sexual IPV across both genders. This highlights the importance of screening for mental health distress and suicide risk among victims of IPV regardless of gender.