Epidemiological Correlates Of Domestic Violence In Married Women In Urban Area Of Ludhiana, Punjab, India

Introduction: Domestic violence against women is the most pervasive human rights violation in the world today. Almost two out of five ever married women in India are subject to spousal violence. Objectives: To estimate the extent of problem in married women attending OPD at Urban Health Centre.To ascertain various epidemiological factors associated with domestic violence. And to estimate the strength of association between epidemiological variables and domestic violence. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in the population covered under the urban field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana city, Punjab, India. All the married women in the age group of 15-45 years attending OPD at Urban Health Centre from Jan to June 2006 were included in the study. Results: Out of 276 women interviewed, 147(53.3%) reported occurrence of domestic violence. It was found to be significantly higher in those women who were working (68.4%) as compared to housewives. In women whose husbands were alcoholic, 87.5% had ever experienced violence. Emotional abuse occurred in 40.6% followed by economical abuse (37.0%) and physical violence (22.4%). The predominant cause of domestic violence was observed to be stress in the family.