Intimate Partner Violence and Modern Contraceptive Use: Exploring the Relationship in 10 Countries

Sunita Kishor, Macro International Inc.
Donna L. Ansara, Johns Hopkins University

We examined the relationship between women’s experience of intimate partner violence and their reports of ever use and current use of modern contraception in ten countries. In 7 of the 10 countries studied, there is a statistically significant association between partner violence and contraceptive use with experience of violence being positively associated with ever use. In contrast, women’s experience of violence is generally not associated with current modern method use in most settings, with the exception of Bolivia (OR=1.28, p<0.001), Bangladesh (OR=1.28, p<0.10), and Zimbabwe (OR=1.25, p<0.10). Further consideration of the causal pathways between contraceptive use and women’s experience of intimate partner violence is needed.