Violence as a threat to mental health, economic growth and social stability, with intergenerational effects

Convener: Gunilla Krantz, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg

Contact: gunilla.krantz@socmed.gu.se

The aim of this panel is to discuss violence exposure and its associated mental health effects, whether executed as intimate partner violence or violence in internal conflicts, further the resulting effects on production and reproduction. On a structural level, such violence is a threat to economic growth and social stability. Presentations are welcome in this field and a short discussion will follow.

It is well-known that women exposed to physical, sexual and/or psychological intimate partner violence (IPV), including controlling behaviour, suffer from a range of health conditions, not least mental disorders. Fewer studies investigate men’s exposure to partner violence and resulting ill-heath.

Families often depend on the husband’s and the wife’s income to sustain the household and secure children’s welfare, but violence in the household seriously affect women’s productive and reproductive capacity and also affect children. Effects of women’s violence against men are less well known. Partner violence is a threat to stability and economic growth that risk throwing families into extreme poverty. A child growing up with parental violence further risk becoming perpetrator or victim of violence at adult age.

Internal conflicts arise out of political instability, most often when one group is privileged over another in a country/region. The goal of the conflict is to keep or gain power. Such conflicts have been seen in Europe as well as in The Middle East, Africa and Asia in recent years and are ongoing, resulting in mass killings, abductions of family members, migration, torture and rape of women and young girls but also boys.

The mental health effects of such experience are long-standing and resources to heal wounds are scarce as mental health services are under-resourced. Growing up in a family with such experiences, even if not born at the time, may cause psychological problems, i.e. an intergenerational effect.

23 Aug., 16:00–17:30, Seminar Room Y22

• Effect of domestic violence on Babcock university high school students Ogun state, Nigeria. Onyinyechi Nancy Nwaolikpe, Babcock University.
• Sexual harassment at higher education institution in Cambodia: perception and ethics through narrative inquiry. Phina So, Cambodia Development Resource Institute.
• Prevalence of intimate partner violence during pregnancy in Rwanda and its association with antenatal care services utilization. Andrew Akashi Rurangirwa, University of Rwanda.
• Gendered In/Securities and Asymmetries Masculinity, Femininity, and Violence between Partners in Vietnam. Helle Rydström, Lund University.
• Prevalence rates of IPV from two different population- based samples and self -reported symptoms of depression among women in Sweden. Solveig Lövestad, University of Gothenburg; Gunilla Krantz, University of Gothenburg / the Västra Götaland Region Competence Centre on Intimate Partner Violence and Lotta Nyberg, Karolinska Institutet.

Abstracts

Effect of domestic violence on Babcock university high school students Ogun state, Nigeria. Onyinyechi Nancy Nwaolikpe, Babcock University.

Domestic violence is a global issue which has been acknowledged worldwide as a violation of basic human rights. It has devastating effects on those who witness it, resulting to damage to children’s psychological development, health problems, intergenerational effects and high demographic consequences and others. This study examined the effect of domestic violence on secondary school pupils of Babcock University High School Ogun State, Nigeria, exploring the social learning theory. A random representative sample of 350 secondary school pupils was done through the use of questionnaire items. Findings indicated that secondary school pupils who witness domestic violence at home were affected physically, emotionally, behaviourally and   their class performance and socialization in school was also affected adversely. The study recommended amongst others that there should be formulation and immediate implementation of policy framework/guideline for violence free society especially in young families where children are the most vulnerable. In as much as this study provided empirical evidence of significant disruptions in adolescents’ academic and psychological functioning; further investigations especially on the religious orientation of the families, regional areas of the country and the socio- economic status of parents involved in domestic violence, will assist in further understanding the domestic violence scourge in Nigeria.

Sexual harassment at higher education institution in Cambodia: perception and ethics through narrative inquiry. Phina So, Cambodia Development Resource Institute.

Sexual Harassment (SH) – a socially sensitive topic – is still relatively new in the Cambodian context, especially at higher education institutions. However, international literature has confirmed that SH incidents have occurred at public places (Hill and Kearl 2011; White House 2014) and in Cambodia, women are more likely to experience sexual violence (Ministry of Women’s Affairs 2014). Such incidents have been seen to be attributable to the lack of sex education and other unconscious practices among the public, including telling sexual jokes as part of normal daily life. Against this backdrop, this study sets out to explore the perceptions of SH among selected university students, by looking at their experiences and the consequences of SH incidents as well as their suggestions on how to prevent SH. This study’s methodology follows Narrative Inquiry, using in-depth and focus group interviews as the primary method of data collection. Preliminary findings reveal that various forms of SH incidents happened at universities in Phnom Penh, where the study was carried out. The incidents ranged from sexual jokes, calling someone’s sexual orientation, sexual graffiti, to exhibitionism. Respondents suggested higher education institutions should provide relevant training programs for students in order to raise awareness of sexual violence, sexual harassment, violence against women, and gender discrimination. The study has also shown that SH in Cambodia was perceived and defined differently from that in the international literature, suggesting that comparative studies on SH between university students in Cambodia and their counterparts in other countries are highly recommended for future research.

Prevalence of intimate partner violence during pregnancy in Rwanda and its association with antenatal care services utilization. Andrew Akashi Rurangirwa, University of Rwanda.

Prevalence of intimate partner violence during pregnancy in Rwanda and its association with antenatal care services utilization. Andrew Akashi Rurangirwa, University of Rwanda, Rwanda.

Background It has been suggested that violence against women during pregnancy is associated with poor health care seeking behavior. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of all forms of intimate partner violence among pregnant women in Rwanda and its relationship with utilization of antenatal care services. Methods This population-based cross sectional study included 921 women who gave birth within the past 13 months. Data on violence exposure was obtained by use of the World Health Organization questionnaire for violence exposure. Summary measures were constructed for controlling behavior and for physical sexual and psychological violence. Bi-and multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the associations. Results Of all the women, 22.6% (95% CI: 20.0-25.3) reported any acts of physical, sexual or psychological violence exposure during pregnancy. Physical partner violence was reported by 10.2% (n=94) of women, psychological abuse by 17.0% (n=157) and sexual violence by 9.7% (n=89). Psychological abuse increased significantly during pregnancy. The risk of poor utilization of ANC services was increased among women who reported controlling behavior (OR) 1.93 (95% CI: 1.34, 2.79). No significant associations of physical, sexual or psychological violence during pregnancy with poor utilization of ANC services were found. Conclusion IPV against pregnant women in Rwanda is frequent and may not be properly investigated during ANC visits. All forms of IPV including controlling behavior should be included in the standard health assessment package of ANC services. Community health workers have to be empowered and given sufficient support as they have an important task in raising awareness of the matter at village and household level. 

Gendered In/Securities and Asymmetries Masculinity, Femininity, and Violence between Partners in Vietnam. Helle Rydström, Lund University.

On a world scale, women are more susceptible than men to be subjected to various kinds of abuse. The WHO (2016) thus estimates that 35% of women have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, while 38% of all murders of women are committed by intimate partners. As the result of contestations over certain images of masculinity, femininity, power, and privileges, male-to-female violence causes harms at an episte-ontological level; it ruins life physically and mentally by obstructing the possibility for living a ‘live-able’ life understood as a life which is more than bearable (Barad 2012; Butler 2004, 2010; Nussbaum 2001; Stoler 2013). By drawing on various periods of anthropological fieldwork conducted in Vietnam, this paper explores the ways in which local configurations of femininity and masculinity provide the conditions for an exacerbated masculinity; a machismo shaped as violent demonstrations of male sovereignty projected onto the female body (Agamben 1998; Horton & Rydström 2011; Krantz et.al. 2007; Nguyen D.V. 2008). As a palpable asymmetrical sociality, violence holds power to constitute a normalcy of insecurity, a crisis of permanency, which makes the world volatile, truncates agency, and creates an opaqueness of possibilities (Lévinas 1979; Rydström 2016a; Vigh 2008). Yet, gendered violence is both resisted and combatted in the Vietnamese context through initiatives taken by the state-organized Women’s Union (Hoi Phu Nu) and by local civil society organizations (Rydström 2016b; Waibel et.al. 2013). Redefinitions of masculinity, power, and privileges, the paper highlights, are closely intertwined with gendered health, security, and development in Vietnam, and beyond.

Prevalence rates of IPV from two different population- based samples and self -reported symptoms of depression among women in Sweden. Solveig Lövestad, University of Gothenburg; Gunilla Krantz, University of Gothenburg / the Västra Götaland Region Competence Centre on Intimate Partner Violence and Lotta Nyberg, Karolinska Institutet.