Relational dynamics associated with adolescent and young adult (13 to 23 years of age) partner violence: The role of interparental violence and child abuse

Purpose The study aimed to examine the effect of witnessing inter-parental violence and experiencing childhood abuse on victimization of intimate partner violence (IPV) after marriage among adolescent and young girls. Method Data were drawn from the second wave of the Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) survey (2018–2019). The sample size was 5480 married adolescent and young girls aged 13–23 years. The outcome variable of the study was the victimization of IPV. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) were performed. Result A total of 39% of married adolescent and young girls experienced physical violence, followed by sexual violence (35%) and emotional violence (28%) by their partner. Around 30% of respondents witnessed inter-parental violence, and 32% of the participants were beaten by their parents during childhood. Participants who had witnessed inter-parental violence were significantly correlated with experiencing childhood abuse, and this association was positively correlated with exposure to IPV in adolescence and young adulthood. Further, the parameter estimates of the indicators of IPV were highest for emotional violence (1.10) followed by physical violence (1.00) and sexual violence (0.62). Witnessing inter-parental violence significantly increases parents’ physical violence to adolescents and young adult girls (β = 0.49, P<0.001, CI: 0.47–0.51). No tie between witnessing inter-parental violence and childhood abuse mediates their effect on later victimization of IPV. Conclusion The findings indicate that witnessing inter-parental violence is a strong risk factor for IPV victimization among adolescent and young adult girls. Our findings advocate prerequisite collaborative effort with multiple service providers for greater empowerment at national, state, community, and family levels to achieve SDG goals pertaining to eliminating violence against women.