IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0136321.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration among Sri Lankan Men

Author

Listed:
  • Ruvani W Fonseka
  • Alexandra M Minnis
  • Anu Manchikanti Gomez

Abstract

In Sri Lanka, over one in three women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization in their lifetime, making it a serious public health concern. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as child abuse and neglect, witnessing domestic violence, parental separation, and bullying are also widespread. Studies in Western settings have shown positive associations between ACEs and IPV perpetration in adulthood, but few have examined this relationship in a non-Western context. In the present study, we examined the association of ACEs with IPV perpetration among Sri Lankan men surveyed for the UN Multi-Country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. We found statistically significant positive associations between the number of ACE categories (ACE score) and emotional, financial, physical, and sexual IPV perpetration among Sri Lankan men. We analyzed the contributions of each ACE category and found that childhood abuse was strongly associated with perpetration of IPV in adulthood, with sexual abuse associated with the greatest increase in odds of perpetration (Adjusted odds ratio 2.36; 95% confidence interval: 1.69, 3.30). Witnessing abuse of one’s mother was associated with the greatest increase in the odds of perpetrating physical IPV (AOR 1.82; 95% CI: 1.29, 2.58), while lack of a male parental figure was not associated with physical IPV perpetration (AOR 0.76; 95% CI: 0.53, 1.09). These findings support a social learning theory of IPV perpetration, in which children who are exposed to violence learn to perpetrate IPV in adulthood. They also suggest that in Sri Lanka, being raised in a female-headed household does not increase the risk of IPV perpetration in adulthood compared to being raised in a household with a male parental figure. The relationship between being raised in a female-headed household (the number of which increased dramatically during Sri Lanka’s recent civil war) and perpetration of IPV warrants further study. Interventions that aim to decrease childhood abuse in Sri Lanka could both protect children now and reduce IPV in the future, decreasing violence on multiple fronts.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruvani W Fonseka & Alexandra M Minnis & Anu Manchikanti Gomez, 2015. "Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration among Sri Lankan Men," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0136321
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136321
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0136321
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0136321&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0136321?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abrahams, N. & Jewkes, R., 2005. "Effects of South African men's having witnessed abuse of their mothers during childhood on their levels of violence in adulthood," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(10), pages 1811-1816.
    2. Jewkes, Rachel & Levin, Jonathan & Penn-Kekana, Loveday, 2002. "Risk factors for domestic violence: findings from a South African cross-sectional study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(9), pages 1603-1617, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sunday B. Fakunmoju & Shahana Rasool, 2018. "Exposure to Violence and Beliefs About Violence Against Women Among Adolescents in Nigeria and South Africa," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(4), pages 21582440188, December.
    2. Mustafa Özer & Jan Fidrmuc & Mehmet Ali Eryurt, 2023. "Education and domestic violence: Evidence from a natural experiment in Turkey," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(3), pages 436-460, August.
    3. Özer, Mustafa & Fidrmuc, Jan, 2017. "Male Education and Domestic Violence in Turkey: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," GLO Discussion Paper Series 109, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Go, Vivian F. & Srikrishnan, Aylur K. & Salter, Megan L. & Mehta, Shruti & Johnson, Sethulakshmi C. & Sivaram, Sudha & Davis, Wendy & Solomon, Suniti & Celentano, David D., 2010. "Factors associated with the perpetration of sexual violence among wine-shop patrons in Chennai, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(7), pages 1277-1284, October.
    5. Pronyk, Paul M. & Harpham, Trudy & Morison, Linda A. & Hargreaves, James R. & Kim, Julia C. & Phetla, Godfrey & Watts, Charlotte H. & Porter, John D., 2008. "Is social capital associated with HIV risk in rural South Africa?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1999-2010, May.
    6. Jorge M. Agüero & Veronica Frisancho, 2022. "Measuring Violence against Women with Experimental Methods," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(4), pages 1565-1590.
    7. World Bank, 2009. "Swaziland - HIV Prevention Response and Modes of Transmission Analysis," World Bank Publications - Reports 3046, The World Bank Group.
    8. Simona Simona & Mazuba Muchindu & Harriet Ntalasha, 2018. "Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Zambia: Socio-demographic Determinants and Association with Use of Maternal Health Care," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(6), pages 42-54, June.
    9. Akemi Tomoda & Ann Polcari & Carl M Anderson & Martin H Teicher, 2012. "Reduced Visual Cortex Gray Matter Volume and Thickness in Young Adults Who Witnessed Domestic Violence during Childhood," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(12), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Amanda Selin & Stephanie M. DeLong & Aimée Julien & Catherine MacPhail & Rhian Twine & James P. Hughes & Yaw Agyei & Erica L. Hamilton & Kathleen Kahn & Audrey Pettifor, 2019. "Prevalence and Associations, by Age Group, of IPV Among AGYW in Rural South Africa," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440198, February.
    11. Paola Belingheri & Filippo Chiarello & Andrea Fronzetti Colladon & Paola Rovelli, 2021. "Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicatorr," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-27, September.
    12. Oasis KODILA-TEDIKA & Isaac KANYAMA & Florentin AZIA-DIMBU, 2013. "Alcohol and Corruption," Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics, ASERS Publishing, vol. 4(2), pages 149-157.
      • Azia-Dimbu, Florentin & Kalonda-Kanyama, Isaac & Kodila-Tedika, Oasis, 2012. "Alcohol and corruption," MPRA Paper 40120, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Kai Thaler, 2011. "Socio-economic conditions, young men and violence in Cape Town," Research Working Papers 50, MICROCON - A Micro Level Analysis of Violent Conflict.
    14. Linda Scott & Catherine Dolan & Mary Johnstone–Louis & Kimberly Sugden & Maryalice Wu, 2012. "Enterprise and Inequality: A Study of Avon in South Africa," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 543-568, May.
    15. Leight, Jessica, 2021. "Like father, like son, like mother, like daughter: Intergenerational transmission of intrahousehold gender attitudes in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    16. Xiangming Fang & Xiaodong Zheng & Deborah A. Fry & Gary Ganz & Tabitha Casey & Celia Hsiao & Catherine L. Ward, 2017. "The Economic Burden of Violence against Children in South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-14, November.
    17. David Aduragbemi Okunlola, 2025. "Multilevel correlates of the severity of intimate partner violence among women in Nigeria: Evidence from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 1-21, March.
    18. Pal, Sumantra, 2018. "Spousal Violence and Social Norms in India's North East," EconStor Preprints 179422, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    19. Phyllis Dako-Gyeke & Adolphina Addoley Addo-Lartey & Deda Ogum Alangea & Yandisa Sikweyiya & Esnat Dorothy Chirwa & Dorcas Coker-Appiah & Rachel Jewkes & Richard Mawuena Kofi Adanu, 2019. "'Small small quarrels bring about happiness or love in the relationships’: Exploring community perceptions and gendered norms contributing to male perpetrated intimate partner violence in the Central ," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-22, November.
    20. Abel Kinyondo & Magashi Joseph, 2021. "Women’s employment status and domestic violence in Tanzania: How do they link?," International Journal of Social Welfare, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 216-225, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0136321. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.