Domestic violence in a semi-urban neighbourhood

Abstract

There are no published studies on impact of neighbourhood on domestic violence in Sango-Ota. This is the first study to examine formal and informal control method and the influence of family structure and socio-economic status on the occurrence of domestic violence in Sango-Ota. A closed-ended questionnaire with two open –ended questions was administered to married couples and other consenting adults at three selected neighbourhoods in Sango-Ota. A research question and one hypothesis were tested. The study tried to find out whether formal and informal control methods are effective. The research hypothesis states that there is a significant combined contribution of socio-economic conditions, family structure and years of marriage to incidences/occurrences of domestic violence in Sango-Ota. Of the 84 participants that reported cases of domestic violence, about two-thirds (61%) reported to their family members while 17 (21%) reported to close family friends. Only 4 (5%) participants had the courage to report to the law enforcement agency, in this case, the police. Risk factors identified to precipitate domestic violence are years of marriage (β= -.205; t = -2.792; p< 0.05) and the prevailing socio-economic status of the family (β= .437; t = 6.052; p< .0005). The findings show a low level reportage of cases of domestic violence. Higher socioeconomic status was found to be protective against domestic violence. Our findings also highlight the potential role of broader contextual or community-level interventions in reducing domestic violence in settings such as Sango-Ota which is a semi-urban area. We found evidence that improvements in the socioeconomic status of the participants will lead to significant reductions in the incidence of domestic violence.

Keywords: Domestic Violence, Sango-Ota, Neighbourhood, Socioeconomic status, Police