Table 1.
Descriptive Characteristics of Young Married Women aged 15-24 years and association with lifetime experiences of violence, Rural Nepal, 2009
| All women (N = 1296) |
Women with lifetime experiences of violence (N = 673; 51.9%) |
Women without lifetime experiences of violence (N = 623; 48.1%) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | n | % | n | % | n | |
| Current age of women | ||||||
| 15-17 | 6.1 | 79 | 6.1 | 41 | 6.1 | 38 |
| 18-20 | 30.7 | 398 | 31.2 | 210 | 30.2 | 188 |
| 21-24 | 63.2 | 819 | 62.7 | 422 | 63.7 | 397 |
| Age at marriage*** | ||||||
| 10-14 | 7.0 | 91 | 8.5 | 57 | 5.5 | 34 |
| 15-17 | 51.9 | 672 | 55.3 | 372 | 48.2 | 300 |
| 18-24 | 41.1 | 533 | 36.3 | 244 | 46.4 | 289 |
| Type of marriage | ||||||
| Arranged marriage | 70.1 | 908 | 70.4 | 474 | 69.7 | 434 |
| Love marriage | 29.9 | 388 | 29.6 | 199 | 30.3 | 189 |
| Caste/ethnicity | ||||||
| Muslim | 25.0 | 324 | 25.9 | 174 | 24.1 | 150 |
| Tamang | 25.0 | 324 | 22.9 | 154 | 27.3 | 170 |
| Tharu | 25.0 | 324 | 26.7 | 180 | 23.1 | 144 |
| Brahmin/Chhetri | 25.0 | 324 | 24.5 | 165 | 25.5 | 159 |
| Women's Education* | ||||||
| Illiterate | 28.6 | 371 | 29.1 | 196 | 28.1 | 175 |
| Literate up to primary | 51.2 | 664 | 53.6 | 361 | 48.6 | 303 |
| Secondary | 16.4 | 212 | 14.6 | 98 | 18.3 | 114 |
| Higher secondary & above | 3.8 | 49 | 2.7 | 18 | 5.0 | 31 |
| Sex composition of children | ||||||
| Childless | 27.2 | 352 | 26.4 | 178 | 27.9 | 174 |
| Only daughter | 26.5 | 343 | 24.7 | 166 | 28.4 | 177 |
| At least one son | 46.4 | 601 | 48.9 | 329 | 43.7 | 272 |
| Women's occupation | ||||||
| Do not earn/housewife | 78.6 | 1019 | 77.9 | 524 | 79.5 | 495 |
| Agriculture/daily wages/poultry farming | 17.0 | 220 | 18.6 | 125 | 15.2 | 95 |
| Other employment (service/small business) | 4.4 | 57 | 3.6 | 24 | 5.3 | 33 |
| Inter spousal communication*** | ||||||
| None | 4.3 | 56 | 7.1 | 48 | 1.3 | 8 |
| Discussed 1-3 matters | 9.2 | 119 | 10.8 | 73 | 7.4 | 46 |
| Discussed 4-7 matters | 86.5 | 1121 | 82.0 | 552 | 91.3 | 569 |
| Media exposure | ||||||
| No/rare | 57.3 | 742 | 58.8 | 396 | 55.5 | 346 |
| Frequent | 42.7 | 554 | 41.2 | 277 | 44.5 | 277 |
| Women's attitude on 'Men are justified to beat their wives'* | ||||||
| Not accepting | 12.4 | 161 | 10.5 | 71 | 14.4 | 90 |
| Partially accepting | 77.9 | 1009 | 78.0 | 525 | 77.7 | 484 |
| Highly accepting | 9.7 | 126 | 11.4 | 77 | 7.9 | 49 |
| Women autonomy*** | ||||||
| Low | 25.0 | 324 | 28.7 | 193 | 21.0 | 131 |
| Medium | 37.3 | 484 | 38.9 | 262 | 35.6 | 222 |
| High | 37.7 | 488 | 32.4 | 218 | 43.3 | 270 |
| Household wealth status | ||||||
| Poorest | 19.3 | 250 | 18.9 | 127 | 19.7 | 123 |
| Poor | 20.4 | 265 | 21.2 | 143 | 19.6 | 122 |
| Middle | 20.0 | 259 | 19.9 | 134 | 20.1 | 125 |
| Rich | 20.1 | 261 | 21.0 | 141 | 19.3 | 120 |
| Richest | 20.1 | 261 | 19.0 | 128 | 21.3 | 133 |
Chi-square test significant at * p ≤ 0.05, *** p ≤ 0.001