Impact of domestic violence: a study in communities of Bangkok Metropolitan, Thailand
- Author:
Ronnachai Kongsakon
;
Daochompu Bhatanaprabhabhan
;
Narumon Pocham
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
abused women, alcohol consumption, domestic violence, partner
- From:ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry
2008;9(2):55-64
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Introduction: Domestic violence, now a national health concern, has pervasive effects at both
individual and social levels. The objective of this study was to survey the prevalence of DV,
the characteristics and the impact of the violence among married women living in the slum
communities of metropolitan Bangkok, Thailand. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out. A total of 580 married women aged 15 years and above were randomly sampled
from seven slum communities in Bangkok. Information on age, education, occupation, income, family size, alcohol use, and experience of DV were collected. Results: The prevalence
of DV was 27.2%. Most of the violent episodes were triggered either by factors related to personal characteristic of the couples, such as bad temper (89.9%) and being grumpy (83.5%), or
circumstantial factors, such as financial problems (74.7%) and suspicion of adultery (28.5%).
Twelve per cent of the abuse episodes were moderate violence, and 34.2% was severe violence. The impacts of victims of violence included mental, family, and social problems. The
mental impacts, e.g., anxiety, stress and nervousness were found in 79.1%. Others were sad,
unhappy, and depressed at 68.4%. Of those, 50.3% could not control their emotion, got angry
easily, and threw things. Other important mental episodes were that they wanted to harm others or revenge at 19% and injured themselves or committed suicide at 17.1%. The last was
negative attitude about sex at 12.2%. Conclusion: DV is common in slum communities and
highly related to socioeconomic status, personality characteristics, and alcohol consumption
of the couples.
