Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Types Are Common Among Turkish Women From High Socioeconomic Status and Have Differing Effects on Child Abuse and Contentment With Life

Objective Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is an important public health problem. In this study, we aimed to investigate the exposure of IPV types, child abuse and decrease in life contentment of married women from high socioeconomic status in Turkey. Methods Data were collected using an online/written questionnaire and Contentment with Life Scale. The questionnaire included definitions of physical, emotional, economic and sexual IPV and asked how many times they experienced these types of abuse. Results We found that physical, emotional, economic and sexual IPV exposure were 19%, 45.2%, 12.5%, and 6%, respectively, which suggest that IPV types were common in this group, too. Physical child abuse was higher among physical and emotional IPV victims (p=0004, p=0.02, respectively), while emotional child abuse was higher only among physical IPV victims (p=0.01). On the other hand, exposure to economic and sexual IPV was not related to any type of child abuse in this sample (p>0.05). Physical and economic IPV victims were statistically older (p=0.004, p Conclusion IPV exposure is also severe among married women with high socioeconomic levels and is associated with child abuse in the family and a decrease in life contentment. Lengthened education period among women with similar socioeconomic levels may be an additional protective factor for IPV by delaying the age of marriage and increasing the individual income.