Association between Community Group Membership and Justification of Physical Intimate Partner Violence among Women in Bolivia – a Cross Sectional Study

Abstract: Aim: The aim of this study was to broaden the understanding of the role of communitygroups in the prevention of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Bolivia. Therefore, this work assessed the connection between community group membership and the justification ofphysical IPV among women in Bolivia. IPV justification was chosen as an outcome, as it is strongly correlated to IPV experience. Methods: Data from a quantitative survey by the World Values Survey involving 988 womenin Bolivia was used for the analysis. To assess possible confounders, bivariate analysis was conducted. Logistic regression analysis between women’s community group membership andtheir justification of physical IPV has been performed. Results: The results indicate that 19.6% of women in Bolivia partly or always justify IPV.There has not been a significant association between community group membership and IPVjustification. The factors that were significantly associated to IPV justification in the final model were age and educational level of the women. Women aged 50 + had lower odds ofjustifying physical IPV than women aged 18-29 (OR 0.59, 95% CI: 0.35-0.97, p= <0.05). Similarly, women in the highest educational group had lower odds of justifying IPVcompared to women in the lowest educational group (OR 0.63, 95% CI: 0.41-0.98, p= <0.05). Conclusion: The association between community group membership and IPV justification inthis study was insignificant. This could be due to limitations in the study design. Futureresearch in the area should conduct studies with focus on different types of community groups singularly.