ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sociol.
Sec. Gender, Sex and Sexualities
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1514917
This article is part of the Research TopicPublic Health Approaches to Ending Violence Against Women: Global Campaigns, Policy, and Community ActionView all 4 articles
Justification of Physical Intimate Partner Violence among Married Men in East Africa Evidence from the recent demographic and health survey (2015-2022): a Multilevel analysis
Provisionally accepted
Kaleb Demissie*
Demiss Mulatu Geberu
Getachew Teshale
Melak Jejaw
Misganaw Guadie Tiruneh
Tesfahun Zemene Tafere
Asebe Hagos
Lemlem Daniel Baffa- College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia
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Introduction: Millions of women and girls worldwide are impacted by physical intimate partner violence. While physical intimate partner violence (IPV) among women is largely associated with the justification of IPV, little is known about men's attitude towards physical IPV. The aim of our study was to examine the factors associated with the justification of physical IPV among men in East Africa.The study used data from the male file (MR) of the most recent demographic and health survey, which was carried out in 10 East African countries. a weighted sample of 74,494 men who were either married or living with a partner as if married. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship between the independent variables and justification of physical IPV.The pooled prevalence justification of physical intimate partner violence in 10 east African countries was 24.17% [95% CI: 19.45-28.90]. The highest prevalence of justification of physical IPV was in Uganda (35.31, 95% CI: 34.09-36.53), and the lowest prevalence of justification of physical IPV was in Malawi (8.88,. The multilevel analysis shows that men's age, working status, respondents' educational level, number of wives, and household wealth status, sex of head of household, age of the household head, place of residence, as well as community level poverty, and community level education were factors associated with the justification of physical intimate partner violence.In East Africa, about 24% of men agreed that physical IPV is justified. Reducing the justification of physical IPV requires advancing men's educational standing, men's economic status, and increased media awareness, with a focus on rural men and promoting educational and awareness campaigns at community level is needed.
Keywords: Justification of physical IPV, Married men, East Africa, DHS, Pooled
Received: 13 Dec 2024; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Demissie, Geberu, Teshale, Jejaw, Tiruneh, Tafere, Hagos and Baffa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kaleb Demissie, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia
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