Intimate Partner Violence Against Women and Early Child Development in Vietnam

• In Event: 2-120 - Fathers, Family Processes, and Early Child Development: Studies from Lebanon, Pakistan, and Vietnam

Integrative Statement

Perpetration of violence, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse, by men against their female partners (IPV) is common in low- and middle-income countries. There is clear and consistent evidence of the adverse effects of IPV on women’s mental and physical health. The aim was to ascertain the consequences of lifetime and postnatal IPV against women for the early physical growth and development of their children. The data were contributed to a prospective community-based study conducted in Ha Nam province, a rural area in North Vietnam. Pregnant women at 12-20 weeks gestation were enrolled and followed up with their infants until these young children were three years old. Women’s lifetime and postnatal experiences of IPV perpetrated by their husbands, who were the fathers of the children, were assessed using the Intimate Partner Violence section of the WHO Multi-Country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence Against Women Questionnaire administered six months postpartum. Child stunting (impaired physical growth) at three years was assessed using the WHO’s definition (height for age below the reference median minus two standard deviations). Children’s cognitive, language, motor, social and emotional development were assessed when they were aged three years by Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd Ed. Development scores more than one standard deviation below the mean were categorized as low. The associations between each type of IPV and each child outcome were examined using logistic regressions adjusted for child sex; being the first child; the woman’s and her husband’s age, education level, and occupation; and household wealth. A total of 497 pregnant women were recruited, and of those 408 mother-young child dyads provided complete data which were included in the analyses (see Table 1). The likelihood of a child being stunted at the age of three years was predicted by maternal lifetime experience of emotional abuse, and any experience of physical/sexual or emotional abuse in the first 6 months postpartum.The likelihood of low cognitive development was predicted by lifetime physical/sexual or emotional abuse, and by emotional abuse in the first 6 months postpartum. The likelihood of low motor development was associated with any lifetime physical/sexual abuse and any physical/sexual abuse in the first 6-months postpartum. This study provides world-first robust evidence that a woman’s lifetime and postnatal experiences of IPV, predict poor physical growth and developmental delays among their young children. IPV can influence early childhood development through compromising maternal mental and physical health and thereby diminish quality of caregiving. IPV might also be associated with men being less sensitive to or involved in the care of their children. Young children are developmentally vulnerable to IPV perpetrated by their fathers against their mothers. Policies and interventions to reduce men’s perpetration of IPV and promote positive relationships between men and their partners and children are urgently needed in low- and middle-income countries.

Authors

• Jane Fisher, Monash University
  Presenting Author

• Thach Duc Tran, Monash University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tuan Tran, Research and Training Centre for Community Development
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ha Tran, Research and Training Centre for Community Development
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julie Anne Simpson, University of Melbourne
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Hanieh, University of Melbourne
  Non-Presenting Author

• Beverley-Ann Biggs, University of Melbourne
  Non-Presenting Author