Abstract
Extramarital sexual partnerships are a common reason for intimate partner violence (IPV) in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the fact that IPV requires an interaction between two partners, the majority of the research focuses on individuals rather than the broader relationship context where such violence takes place. Using a sample of 422 married couples from rural Malawi, this study examined the dyadic environment of marital infidelity and two types of IPV victimization: sexual coercion and physical abuse. We considered both self-reported marital infidelity and perceived partner infidelity to assess how well partners knew each other and to compare their respective associations with IPV. Logistic regression was used to test for associations between self-reported marital infidelity and IPV. Multilevel logistic regression was used to examine actor and partner effects of perceived partner infidelity on an individual’s and their partner’s experience of IPV. The results show that self-reported marital infidelity was not significantly associated with IPV for men or women. However, the perception of a partner’s infidelity was significantly associated with both an individual’s and their partner’s risk for sexual coercion and physical abuse. Contrary to the “sexual double standard” hypothesis, women were not significantly more likely than men to report being physically abused when their partners suspected infidelity. Future studies should continue to explore the relationship context of IPV in sub-Saharan Africa in order to understand how spouses mutually shape each other’s experience of IPV and subsequent health outcomes.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Refer to http://projects.pop.psu.edu/tlt for more information about the TLT dataset, to request data access, and for replication files.
References
Agresti, A., & Finlay, B. (2009). Statistical methods for the social sciences (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Alio, A. P., Clayton, H. B., Garba, M., Mbah, A. K., Daley, E., & Salihu, H. M. (2010). Spousal concordance in attitudes toward violence and reported physical abuse in African couples. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26, 2790–2810.
Anglewicz, P. A., Bignami-Van Assche, S., Clark, S., & Mkandawire, J. (2008). HIV risk among currently married couples in rural Malawi: What do spouses know about each other? AIDS and Behavior, 14, 103–112.
Archer, J. (2000). Sex differences in aggression between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 651–680.
Babcock, J., Waltz, J., Jacobson, N. S., & Gottman, J. M. (1993). Power and violence: The relationship between communication patterns, power discrepancies, and domestic violence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 40–50.
Balmer, D. H., Gikundi, E., Kanyotu, M., & Waithaka, R. (1995). The negotiating strategies determining coitus in stable heterosexual relationships. Health Transition Review, 5, 85–95.
Blanc, A. (2001). The effect of power in sexual relationships on sexual and reproductive health: An examination of the evidence. Studies in Family Planning, 32, 189–213.
Boonzaier, F. (2005). Woman abuse in South Africa: A brief contextual analysis. Feminism and Psychology, 15, 99–103.
Burton, J., Darbes, L. A., & Operario, D. (2010). Couples-focused behavioral interventions for prevention of HIV: Systematic review of the state of evidence. AIDS and Behavior, 14, 1–10.
Campbell, J. (2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence. Lancet, 359, 1331–1336.
Chersich, M. F., & Rees, H. V. (2008). Vulnerability of women in southern Africa to infection with HIV: Biological determinants and priority sector interventions. AIDS, 22(Suppl. 4), S27–S40.
Chimbiri, A. M. (2007). The condom is an ‘intruder’ in marriage: Evidence from rural Malawi. Social Science and Medicine, 64, 1102–1115.
Choi, S. Y. P., & Ting, K.-F. (2008). Wife beating in South Africa: An imbalance theory of resources and power. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23, 834–852.
Cohen, C. R. (1998). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (rev ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Coleman, D. H., & Straus, M. A. (1986). Marital power, conflicts, and violence in a nationally representative sample of American couples. Violence and Victims, 1, 141–157.
Conroy, A. A. (2013). Gender, power, and intimate partner violence: A study on couples from rural Malawi. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29, 866–888.
Cornwall, A. (2002). Spending power: Love, money, and the reconfiguration of gender relations in Ada-Odo, Southwestern Nigeria. American Ethnologist, 29, 963–980.
Dunkle, K. L., Jewkes, R. K., Brown, H. C., Gray, G. E., McIntyre, J. A., & Harlow, S. D. (2004). Gender-based violence, relationship power, and risk of HIV infection in women attending antenatal clinics in South Africa. Lancet, 363, 1415–1421.
Dunkle, K. L., Jewkes, R., Nduna, M., Jama, N., Levin, J., Sikweyiya, Y., et al. (2007). Transactional sex with causal and main partners among young South African men in the rural Eastern Cape: Prevalence, predictors, and associations with gender-based violence. Social Science and Medicine, 65, 1235–1248.
Dworkin, S. L., Treves-Kagan, S., & Lippman, S. A. (2013). Gender-transformative interventions to reduce HIV risks and violence with heterosexually-active men: A review of the global evidence. AIDS and Behavior, 17, 2845–2863.
Fonck, K., Leye, E., Kidula, N., Ndinya-Achola, J., & Temmerman, M. (2005). Increased risk of HIV in women experiencing physical partner violence in Nairobi, Kenya. AIDS and Behavior, 9, 335–339.
Frieze, I. H. (1983). Investigating the causes and consequences of marital rape. Signs, 8, 532–553.
Gage, A. J., & Hutchinson, P. L. (2006). Power, control, and intimate partner violence in Haiti. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35, 11–24.
Garcia-Moreno, C., Jansen, H. A., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L., & Watts, C. H. (2006). Prevalence of intimate partner violence: Findings from the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence. Lancet, 368, 1260–1269.
Gass, J. D., Stein, D. J., Williams, D. R., & Seedat, S. (2011). Gender differences in risk for intimate partner violence among South African adults. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26, 2764–2789.
Glynn, J. R., Caraël, M., Buvé, A., Musonda, R. M., & Kahindo, M. (2003). HIV risk in relation to marriage in areas with high prevalence of HIV infection. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 33, 526–535.
Halperin, D. T., & Epstein, H. (2004). Concurrent sexual partnerships help to explain Africa’s high HIV prevalence: Implications for prevention. Lancet, 364, 4–6.
Hatcher, A. M., Romito, P., Odero, M., Bukusi, E. A., Onono, M., & Turan, J. M. (2013). Social context and drivers of intimate partner violence in rural Kenya: Implications for the health of pregnant women. Culture Health & Sexuality, 15, 404–419.
Helleringer, S., & Kohler, H. P. (2007). Sexual network structure and the spread of HIV in Africa: Evidence from Likoma Island, Malawi. AIDS, 21, 2323–2332.
Higgins, J. A., Hoffman, S., & Dworkin, S. L. (2010). Rethinking gender, heterosexual men, and women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. American Journal of Public Health, 100, 435–442.
Hox, J. J., & Kreft, I. G. G. (1994). Multilevel analysis methods. Sociological Methods and Research, 22, 283–299.
Jewkes, R. (2002). Intimate partner violence: Causes and prevention. Lancet, 359, 1423–1429.
Jewkes, R., Dunkle, K. L., Nduna, M., Levin, J., Jama, P. N., Khuzwayao, N., … Duvvury, N. (2006). Factors associated with HIV sero-positivity in young, rural South African men. International Journal of Epidemiology, 35, 1455–1460.
Jewkes, R. K., Dunkle, K., Nduna, M., & Shai, N. (2010). Intimate partner violence, relationship power inequity, and incidence of HIV infection in young women in South Africa: A cohort study. Lancet, 376, 41–48.
Karakurt, G., & Cumbie, T. (2012). The relationship between egalitarianism, dominance, and violence in intimate relationships. Journal of Family Violence, 27, 115–122.
Karamagi, C. A. S., Tumwine, J. K., Tylleskar, T., & Heggenhougen, K. (2006). Intimate partner violence against women in eastern Uganda: Implications for HIV prevention. BMC Public Health, 6(4), 1–12. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-6-284.
Kelley, H. H., & Thibalt, J. W. (1978). Interpersonal relations: A theory of interdependence. New York: Wiley.
Kenny, D. A., Kashy, D. A., & Cook, W. L. (2006). Dyadic data analysis. New York: Guilford Press.
Kim, J. Y., & Motsei, M. (2002). “Women enjoy punishment”: Attitudes and experiences of gender-based violence among PHC nurses in rural South Africa. Social Science and Medicine, 54, 1243–1254.
Koenig, M. A., Lutalo, T., Zhao, F., Nalugoda, F., Kiwanuka, N., Wabwire-Mangen, F., … Gray, R. (2004). Coercive sex in rural Uganda: Prevalence and associated risk factors. Social Science and Medicine, 37, 859–872.
Koenig, M. A., Lutalo, T., Zhao, F., Nalugoda, F., Wabwire-Mangen, F., Kiwanuka, N., … Gray, R. (2003). Domestic violence in rural Uganda: Evidence from a community-based study. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 81(1), 53–60.
Krishnan, S., Rocca, C. H., Hubbard, A. E., Subbiah, K., Edmeades, J., & Padian, N. S. (2009). Do changes in spousal employment status lead to domestic violence? Insights from a prospective study in Bangalore, India. Social Science and Medicine, 70, 136–143.
Lary, H., Maman, S., Katebalila, M., & Mbwambo, J. (2004). Exploring the association between HIV and violence: Young people’s experiences with infidelity, violence, and forced sex in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. International Family Planning Perspectives, 30, 200–206.
Leach, M. (1991). Locating gendered experience: An anthropologist’s view from a Sierra Leonian village. IDS Bulletin, 22, 44–50.
Malamuth, N. M., Sockloskie, R. J., Koss, M. P., & Tanaka, J. S. (1991). Characteristics of aggressors against women: Testing a model using a national sample of college students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 670–681.
Maman, S., Mbwambo, J. K., Hogan, N. M., Kilonza, G. P., Campbell, J. C., Weiss, E., et al. (2002). HIV-positive women report more life-time partner violence: Findings from a voluntary counselling and testing clinic in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 1331–1337.
Mbweza, E., Norr, K. F., & McElmurry, B. (2008). Couple decision making and use of cultural scripts in Malawi. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 40, 12–19.
Morrell, R., Jewkes, R., Lindegger, G., & Hamlall, V. (2013). Hegemonic masculinity: Reviewing the gendered analysis of men’s power in South Africa. South African Review of Sociology, 44, 3–21.
National Statistical Office & ICF Macro. (2011). Malawi Demographic and Health Survey. Calverton, MD: NSO and ICF Macro.
Ntaganira, J., Muula, A. S., Masaisa, F., Dusabeyezu, F., Siziya, S., & Rudatsikira, E. (2008). Intimate partner violence among pregnant women in Rwanda. BMC Women’s Health, 8(17), 1–17. doi:10.1186/1472-6874-8-17.
Parikh, S. (2009). Modern wives, men’s infidelity, and marriage. In J. S. Hirsch, H. Wardlow, D. J. Smith, H. M. Phinney, S. Parikh, & C. A. Nathanson (Eds.), The secret: Love, marriage, and HIV (pp. 168–196). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
Peters, P. E. (1997). Against the odds: Matriliny, land and gender in the shire highlands of Malawi. Critique of Anthropology, 17, 189–210.
Pulerwitz, J., Gortmaker, S. L., & DeJong, W. (2000). Measuring relationship power in HIV/STD research. Sex Roles, 42, 637–660.
Reniers, G. (2003). Divorce and remarriage in rural Malawi. Demographic Research (Special Collection 1, Article 6), 173-206. doi:10.4054/DemRes.2003.S1.6.
Schatz, E. (2002). Numbers and narratives: Making sense of gender and context in rural Malawi. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Schatz, E. (2005). ‘Take your mat and go’! Rural Malawian women’s strategies in the HIV/AIDS era. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 7, 479–492.
Scorgie, F., Kunene, B., Smit, J. A., Manzini, N., Chersich, M. F., & Preston-Whyte, E. M. (2009). In search of sexual pleasure and fidelity: Vaginal practices in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 11, 267–283.
Sikweyiya, Y., & Jewkes, R. (2009). Force and temptation: Contrasting South African men’s accounts of coercion into sex by men and women. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 11, 529–541.
Simpson, A. (2007). Learning sex and gender in Zambia: Masculinities and HIV/AIDS risk. Sexualities, 10, 173–188.
Smith, D. J. (2009). Gender inequality, infidelity, and the social risks of modern marriage in Nigeria. In J. S. Hirsch, H. Wardlow, D. J. Smith, H. M. Phinney, S. Parikh, & C. A. Nathanson (Eds.), The secret: Love, marriage, and HIV (pp. 84–107). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
Swidler, A., & Watkins, S. C. (2007). Ties of dependence: AIDS and transactional sex in rural Malawi. Studies in Family Planning, 38, 147–162.
Tawfik, L., & Watkins, S. C. (2007). Sex in Geneva, sex in Lilongwe, and sex in Balaka. Social Science and Medicine, 64, 1090–1101.
van der Straten, A., King, R., Grinstead, O., Serufilira, A., & Allen, S. (1995). Couple communication, sexual coercion and HIV risk reduction in Kigali, Rwanda. AIDS, 9, 935–944.
Vyas, S., & Watts, C. (2009). How does economic empowerment affect women’s risk of intimate partner violence in low and middle income countries? A systematic review of published evidence. Journal of International Development, 21, 577–602.
Watkins, S. C. (2004). Navigating the AIDS epidemic in rural Malawi. Population and Development Review, 30, 673–705.
Watkins, S. C., & Swidler, A. (2012). Working misunderstandings: Donors, brokers, and villagers in Africa’s AIDS industry. Population and Development Review, 38(Suppl.), 197–218.
Watts, C., Keogh, E., Ndlovu, M., & Kwaramba, R. (1998). Withholding of sex and forced sex: Dimensions of violence against Zimbabwean women. Reproductive Health Matters, 6, 57–65.
Were, E., Curran, K., Delany-Moretlwe, S., Nakku-Joloba, E., Mugo, N. R., Kiarie, J., et al. (2011). A prospective study of frequency and correlates of intimate partner violence among African heterosexual HIV serodiscordant couples. AIDS, 25, 2009–2018.
Wood, K., & Jewkes, R. (1997). Violence, rape, and sexual coercion: Everyday love in a South African township. Gender and Development, 5, 41–46.
Zablotska, I. B., Gray, R. H., Koenig, M. A., Serwadda, D., Nalugoda, F., Kigozi, G., … Wawer, M. (2009). Alcohol use, intimate partner violence, sexual coercion and HIV among women aged 15-24 in Rakai, Uganda. AIDS and Behavior, 13, 225–233.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by grants F31-MH093260 and T32-MH19105 from the National Institutes of Mental Health and grant R01-HD058366 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Special thanks to Sara Yeatman, Monica Longmore, and several anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Conroy, A.A. Marital Infidelity and Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Malawi: A Dyadic Investigation. Arch Sex Behav 43, 1303–1314 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0306-2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0306-2