[Co-occurrence of physical violence against partners and their children in health services].
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.
Reichenheim
Michael Eduardo
ME
Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. michael@ims.uerj.br
Dias
Alessandra Silva
AS
Moraes
Claudia Leite
CL
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*