title: [Co-occurrence of physical violence against partners and their children in health services].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To profile the co-occurrence of physical violence against partners and their children in a population attending a health care service, according to different socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study on family violence and pre-term delivery was carried out in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2000. Households of women living with a partner and at least one child (or stepchild) aged less than 18 years were eligible to the study (n=205). Socioeconomic, demographic, and life style variables for the family couple were considered as potential predictors of violence. The outcome variable was assessed at four levels: no physical violence in the household; physical violence against partners, physical violence against at least one child or co-occurrence of both. A multinomial logit model was used for projecting the respective prevalences according to a range of selected descriptors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The risk factors associated to greater risk of the outcome were: maternal age >25; partner with less than eight years of schooling; presence of >2 children under the age of five in the household; and alcohol/illicit drug abuse by the partner. In households with all those characteristics, the joint projected prevalence of violence against partners and their children was 90.2%, and as much as 60.6% accounted for the co-occurrence of both. In the absence of those factors, estimates were significantly lower (18.9% and 0.2%, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health providers should not only anticipate a situational gradient, but also be aware there is an increasingly higher risk of violence comprising the whole family group.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. michael@ims.uerj.br
authors.forename: Michael Eduardo
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Reichenheim
authors.forename: Alessandra Silva
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.forename: Claudia Leite
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Moraes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*