Gender Norms, Violence in Childhood, and Men’s Coercive Control in Marriage: A Multilevel Analysis of Young Men in Bangladesh

Objective: Coercive control in marriage is common in patriarchal settings, but multilevel determinants are understudied. Method: Using a probability sample of 570 junior men (married, 18–34 years) from the Bangladesh survey of the 2011 UN Multi-Country Study of Men and Violence, we examined how exposure to violence in childhood and community-level gender norms were related to men’s attitudes about gender equity and use of controlling behavior. We tested whether community-level gender norms moderated the relationship between men’s exposure to violence in childhood and our outcomes. Results: According to results from multilevel Poisson regression models, as community gender norms become more equitable by 1 standard deviation, a junior married man’s expected rate of controlling behavior is lower by 0.11, and his rate of agreement with gender equitable attitudes is higher by 0.27. More gender-equitable community norms were negatively related to a junior married man’s use of controlling behavior. Childhood exposure to violence was not associated with use of controlling behavior. There was a significant cross-level interaction such that exposure to violence had a stronger negative impact on men’s gender equitable attitudes in communities with lower overall gender equity than those with higher overall gender equity. The corresponding cross-level interaction effect was not significant for the controlling behavior outcome. Conclusions: More equitable community gender norms may encourage more gender-equitable attitudes and discourage use of controlling behavior among junior men, suggesting that interventions to change community gender norms may reduce coercive control of women in marriage

Men’s Perpetration of Partner Violence in Bangladesh: Community Gender Norms and Violence in Childhood.

Men’s perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) is common, but its multilevel determinants are understudied. We leveraged novel data from a probability sample of married junior men (N = 570; age 18 to 34 years) from 50 urban and 62 rural communities who took part in the Bangladesh survey of the 2011 UN Multi-Country Study of Men and Violence. We tested whether lifetime count (or scope) of physical IPV acts perpetrated was negatively associated with more equitable community gender norms among married senior men (N = 938; age 35 to 49 years) and positively associated with greater exposure to childhood violence among junior men. We also tested whether more equitable community gender norms mitigated the association of more violence in childhood with the lifetime scope of physical IPV acts perpetrated. Among younger married men, 50% reportedly ever perpetrated physical IPV, the mean lifetime scope of physical IPV types perpetrated was 1.1 (SD 1.3) out of 5 listed. A majority (64%) reported childhood exposure to violence. In multilevel Poisson models, a man with more childhood exposure to violence had a higher log scope (estimate: 0.31, SE 0.04, p < .001), and a man living amid the most equitable gender norms had a lower log scope (estimate: −0.61, SE 0.17, p < .01) of physical IPV acts perpetrated; however, no significant cross-level interaction was observed. Interventions that address the trauma of childhood violence and that promote more equitable community gender norms may be needed to mitigate IPV perpetration by younger men

Multilevel Influences on Depressive Symptoms among Men in Bangladesh

Depression is a worldwide problem, and is especially prevalent in lower-income countries with insufficient resources and widespread poverty, such as Bangladesh. Yet multilevel determinants of depressive symptoms in men have not been studied in this context. We leverage a novel dataset from men in Bangladesh to determine the community- and individual-level influences of masculine dominance strain and financial strain on the frequency of married men’s depressive symptoms in Bangladesh. Data were collected between January and June, 2011, as part of the UN Multi-Country Study of Men and Violence, conducted by The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). Masculine dominance strain at both levels was related to the frequency of depressive symptoms. Financial strain only at the individual level was related to the frequency of depressive symptoms. We conclude that community-level economic interventions may not directly influence individual-level depression; however, addressing customary conceptions of masculinity at the community and individual level and addressing individual-level financial strain are promising joint strategies to improve married men’s mental health in Bangladesh and similar settings

Community Influences on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Kenya: Norms, Opportunities, and Ethnic Diversity

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGMC) is a human rights violation with adverse health consequences. Although prevalence is declining, the practice persists in many countries, and the individual and contextual risk factors associated with FGMC remain poorly understood. We propose an integrated theory about contextual factors and test it using multilevel discrete-time hazard models in a nationally representative sample of 7,535 women with daughters who participated in the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. A daughter’s adjusted hazard of FGMC was lower if she had an uncut mother who disfavored FGMC, lived in a community that was more opposed to FGMC, and lived in a more ethnically diverse community. Unexpectedly, a daughter’s adjusted FGMC hazard was higher if she lived in a community with more extrafamilial opportunities for women. Other measures of women’s opportunities warrant consideration, and interventions to shift FGMC norms in more ethnically diverse communities show promise to accelerate abandonment

Gender‐Equitable Parental Decision Making and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration in Bangladesh

Objective This article examines the relationship between the exposure of men as children to gender‐equitable parental decision making and the potential for subsequent later life engagement in intimate partner violence (IPV) in Bangladesh. Background Although researchers have recently begun to explore multilevel influences on IPV perpetration, no studies have examined how decision making between parents at home and within the community relates to IPV perpetration in low-income settings. Drawing on a theoretical framework of gendered social learning, gender-equitable parental decision making may be an important protective factor against IPV. Method This study uses a random probability sample of 1,499 married men in Bangladesh. The main outcome is physical IPV perpetration in adulthood, whereas two exposure variables measure the equity of parental decision making in the man's childhood home and his current community. A series of two-level negative binomial models, controlling for pertinent individual- and community-level factors, are estimated. Results Exposure in childhood to more equitable decision making between parents is negatively associated with a man's physical IPV perpetration in adulthood. Gender‐equitable parental decision making within one's current community is not significantly associated with IPV. Conclusion Boys who grow up exposed to more equitable decision making between parents in the home may be less likely to engage in physical IPV perpetration as an adult

ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING IN COMPARATIVE EDUCATION STUDIES: THE CASE OF THE CIVIC EDUCATION STUDIES

This study proposes and illustrates a two-stage strategy to analyze differential item functioning in comparative educational studies. At the first stage, within each country, item difficulties are estimated. At the second stage, results are combined across countries using a meta-analytic framework to investigate (a) whether the items function consistently at the country level, and (b) what country characteristics predict item difficulties. To illustrate, we analyzed data on student responses to 13 civic skills items from 28 countries, collected under the Civic Education Study of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), and reported initial findings. Implications of this strategy for comparative educational studies are discussed

Community gender systems and a daughter's risk of female genital mutilation/cutting: Multilevel findings from Egypt.

We tested a feminist social-ecological model to understand community influences on daughters' experience of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGMC) in Egypt, where over 90% of women ages 15-49 are cut. FGMC has potential adverse effects on demographic and health outcomes and has been defined as a human-rights violation. However, an integrated multilevel-level framework is lacking. We theorized that a more favorable community-level gender system, including stronger gender norms opposing FGMC and expanded extra-familial opportunities for women in the village or neighborhood, would be associated with a daughter's lower risk of FGMC and would strengthen the negative association of a mother's opposition to FGMC with her daughter's risk of cutting. Using a national sample of 14,171 mother-daughter dyads from the 2014 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey, we estimated multilevel discrete-time hazard models to test these relationships. Community gender norms opposing FGMC had significant direct, negative associations with the hazard that a daughter was cut, but women's opportunities outside the family did not. Maternal opposition to FGMC was negatively associated with cutting a daughter, and these associations were stronger where community opposition to FGMC and opportunities for women were greater. Results provided good support for a gender-systems framework of the multilevel influences on FGMC. Integrated, multilevel interventions that address gender norms about FGMC and structural opportunities for women in the community, as well as beliefs about the practice among the mothers of at-risk daughters, may be needed for sustainable declines in the practice

Development and validation of the Economic Coercion Scale-20 (ECS-20): A short-form of the ECS-36.

The Economic Coercion Scale 36 (ECS-36) is a validated scale measuring women's exposure to economic coercion for low-income countries. A valid short form is needed to facilitate parsimonious measurement of economic coercion in general surveys or program evaluations. We used data from a probability sample of 930 married women 15-49 years in Matlab, Bangladesh. We selected 21 items from the ECS-36 based on theory, content coverage, and item and dimensional information. We evaluated external validity with measures of non-economic intimate partner violence and depressive symptoms. We tested measurement invariance of the short-form scale across participants and non-participants of microfinance programs. A final, 20-item scale captured husband's interference with wife's (1) acquisition of economic resources and (2) use or maintenance of economic resources. IRT results of the ECS-20 demonstrated precision over the higher range of the economic coercion trait. Tests of external validity confirmed expected correlations of the ECS-20 with measures of IPV and depressive symptoms. The ECS-20 was measurement invariant across groups of women who did and did not participate in microfinance programs. The ECS-20, a valid short-form of the ECS-36, is suitable for general surveys and monitoring potential adverse impacts of microfinance programs targeting women