28Jul 2017

THE PREVALENCE OF PHYSICAL WIFE ABUSE AMONG FEMALE IN SAUDI ARABIA.

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Background: The wife abuse is considered as an abnormal behavior but in certain countries its prevalence reaches 59%. Objectives: To study the prevalence of physical wife abuse among teachers of intermediate schools in KSA. Methods: A community based study among female teachers of KSA.A questionnaire was distributed among 322 female teachers of intermediate schools that consists of two parts including socioeconomic status and the issue of wife beating through questions about the methods, tools and causes of the beat. Results: The majority of abused women were divorced, widowed, their husbands have more than one wife and living with husband only. The duration of marriage was 10.1?5.7 in abused group and 11.4?6 years in non-abused group. The overall prevalence of physical abuse was 21.6% with higher prevalence during the first year of marriage. The most common factors for physical abuse is jealous, followed by taking his mother opinion. About 51% of abused women thought that abuse is a way for improving the wife behavior. Most of subjects in both groups thought that abuse is pushing for divorce in 97.1% of abused group and 91.2% of non-abused group. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of physical wives abuse was 21.6% indicating a sizable prevalence especially during the first year of marriage. The abuse was significantly associated with being educated, divorced, working or living with husband alone in addition to low education of husband. Also, being jealous was the most common factor for being abused. The women perception about divorce after abuse was very high.

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[Hanan Obaidallah Alharbi. (2017); THE PREVALENCE OF PHYSICAL WIFE ABUSE AMONG FEMALE IN SAUDI ARABIA. Int. J. of Adv. Res. 5 (Jul). 2080-2085] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com

DR.hanan obaidallah alharbi
consultant family medicine

DOI:

Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/4944      
DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/4944

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