title: [Family violence].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Family violence is a serious public health problem, the scale of which is seriously increasing in Morocco. Although it has existed for a long time, we ignore the real characteristics of this plague in our country; our work consisted in an epidemiological approach of family violence in Marrakech during 2006.
  
  
  METHODS
  After elaborating a questionnaire, which allows the study of the demographic and social profile of the families, the study of violence exercised in the family and the evaluation of the depression in the women, we led an inquiry amongst 265 women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analysis of the results obtained has allowed us to underline the following characteristics: 16.6% of the women in our sample had been physically beaten; the young age is a risk factor; the age range most affected by violence is in women between the ages of 30 and 40 and which represent 39% of the battered women; domestic violence touches all the social, economic and cultural classes: in our study, 63% of the women having undergone violence were housewives, 25% were managers and 3% senior executives; family problems were the most important cause of violence in our study, representing 32.32%. Requests for money was the cause in 11.3% of the cases, and imposed sexual relations were found in 6.8% of the cases; alcoholism is an aggravating factor of family violence; 27.3% of the spouses who assaulted their wives were drunk; 52% of the assaulted women were victims of violence in childhood and 36% had been witness to their father's violence; in 63.6% of the cases of violence, the children were witnesses, and in 25% of the cases the children were victims of violence at the same time as their mothers; 50% of the women victims of violence did not react, while 38.6% left home, and 9.1 filed for divorce. Thirty-two percent of the assaulted woman had been traumatised by the aggression; the association of depression and violence was very high, 343% of the battered women in our study suffered from severe depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work underlines the necessity of an urgent intervention in order to limit the extension of this plague and its consequences.
authors.affiliation: Équipe de recherche pour la santé mentale, faculté de médecine et de pharmacie, université Caddi Ayyad, CHU Mohammed VI Marrakech, Maroc. Electronic address: fatiha.manoudi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Manoudi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chagh
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Es-soussi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Asri
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tazi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003906:Developing Countries; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009018:Morocco; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Battered women; Depression; Dépression; Epidemiology; Family violence; Femmes battues; Violence familiale; Épidémiologie