Intimate partner violence: last year prevalence and association with socio-economic factors among women in Madrid, Spain.
BACKGROUND
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem with significant consequences on women's health. This study estimates the prevalence of intimate partner violence by type among Madrid's female population and assesses the association with socio-economic variables.


METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2004, 2136 women aged 18-70 years, living in the Madrid region with a partner or who had been in contact with an ex-partner in the previous year, were interviewed by telephone. The questionnaire used to measure past-year intimate partner violence, consisted of a Spanish translation of the psychological and sexual violence module of the French National Survey on Violence against Women, and the physical violence module of the Conflict Tactics Scale-1. To assess the association with socio-economic factors, logistic regression models were fitted.


RESULTS
About 10.1% [confidence interval (CI) 8.9-11.5] of the women had suffered some type of IPV in the previous year. 8.6% (CI 7.4-9.8) experienced psychological violence, 2.4% (CI 1.8-3.1) physical violence and 1.1% (CI 0.68-1.6) sexual violence; the prevalence of psychological-only violence (non-physical/non-sexual) was 6.9% (CI 5.8-8.0). Factors associated with psychological-only violence were divorced or separated status and Group III (clerical workers; supervisors of manual workers) or V (unskilled manual workers) occupation. Unemployment and divorced or separated status were associated with physical violence.


CONCLUSIONS
Spanish women in our study, experienced past year partner violence at a similar level as in other industrialized countries. Unemployment and low occupational status are associated with physical and psychological-only violence, respectively.
Zorrilla
Belén
B
Servicio de Epidemiología, Dirección General de Salud Pública, Consejería de Sanidad, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain. belen.zorrilla@salud.madrid.org
Pires
Marisa
M
Lasheras
Luisa
L
Morant
Consuelo
C
Seoane
Luis
L
Sanchez
Luis M
LM
Galán
Iñaki
I
Aguirre
Ramón
R
Ramírez
Rosa
R
Durbán
Maria
M
D000328:Adult; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult