According to the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey, the south-south zone of Nigeria had the highest prevalence of domestic violence. This study is to find out if this is related to the widespread consumption of alcohol in the region.
The study was carried out in Okoloba, a rural Ijaw community in Bayelsa State, where alcohol is produced and consumed in large quantities; using a cross-sectional study design. The data was collected from married or cohabitating adults aged between 16 and 65 years, with a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. A total of 346 subjects, comprising 187 males, and 159 females were studied. They had an average age of 41.4 ± 2.5 years, were mostly Christians (91.9%), farmers/fisher folk (52.3%), and had at most primary school education (64.2%).
More than 90% of the subjects took alcohol in the preceding year, while 36% can be classified as alcohol abusers according to their AUDIT score.
More than half (55.8%) were perpetrators of intimate partner violence during the preceding 12 months, with a male-to-female prevalence of 83.4%, and female-to-male prevalence of 23.3%. Out of these, 77.2% were under the influence of alcohol during the act.
The violence was more likely to be perpetrated by male alcohol abusers (p-value < 0.001), but there were no significant differences in the educational levels and religion of the perpetrators (p-value > 0.05).
The study therefore concludes that there is a link between intimate partner abuse and alcohol abuse in the study community.
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