Table 1.

Operational definitions of variables

Explanatory variables
Social characteristics	Definition
No high school	Only attended primary school education or had no education.
Current food insecurity	Sometimes or often people at home go without food because of a lack of money.
Victimization history and childhood
Paternal absence	When growing up, biological father rarely or never at home.
Father’s contribution to housework	When growing up father or step-father prepared food, cleaned the house, washed clothes or cared for the respondent or his siblings (4 items scored 1-4 never, sometimes, often and very often). Summed and a categorical dummy variable derived: 1 = score <8, 2 = 8-11, 3 = 12-16.
Childhood emotional abuse or neglect (often)	Men were asked about their experiences of trauma in childhood using a modified version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Before age 18 y respondent had at least one of the following experiences sometimes, often or very often: lived in different households at different times; was told he was lazy or stupid or weak by someone in his family; was insulted or humiliated by someone in his family in front of other people; both of his parents were too drunk or drugged to take care of him; witnessed his mother beaten by a partner; spent time outside the home and none of the adults at home knew where he was.
Childhood physical abuse	Before age 18, respondent had at least one of the following experiences sometimes, often or very often: was beaten at home with a belt or stick or whip or something else which was hard; was beaten so hard at home that it left a mark or bruise.
Childhood sexual abuse	Before age 18, respondent had at least one of the following experiences sometimes, often or very often: someone touched his buttocks or genitals or made him touch them when he did not want to; had sex with someone because he was threatened or frightened or forced.
Witnessed abuse of his mother	Before age 18, the respondent saw or heard his mother being beaten by her husband or a boyfriend.
Teased or bullied as a child	Respondent was bullied, teased or harassed in school or in the neighbourhood in which he grew up.
Experienced homophobic violence or teasing	Had been called names, faced derogatory remarks or been subjected to violence or threats because they were thought to be effeminate or attracted to men. 2 items scored and a dummy variable derived with 0 = never 1 = ever experienced this.
Gender attitudes and relationship practices
Low gender equity	Tertiles created from 10 items scored on a 4-point scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree and this variable refers to the lowest tertile − Typical item “A woman’s most important role is to take care of her home and cook for her family”. Alpha = 0.72
Respondent dominates some or all decisions at home	4 items asking about health of women, decisions around children (if any), spending money on food and clothing and large investments. Each question asked about who made the decisions: himself, his wife/partner, both equally or another person in the household. Derived variable captured men who himself made some or all of these decisions vs other response options.
Relationship control	8 items with Likert responses: strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree, summed. Typical item “When I want sex I expect my partner to agree”. Dummy variable created with categories cut at tertiles of the distribution, with a category derived for missing values, including men without a partner.
Ever sex with sex worker	Respondent has ever had sex with a male, female or transgender sex worker.
Transactional sex ever	4 items: Ever had sex with a woman/girl in exchange for drugs, food, cosmetics, clothes, a cell phone, transportation; somewhere to stay; something for her children or family; or money to pay her bills or school fees. Binary variable derived with ever v. never categories.
>1 sexual partners in the past year	Number of different people respondent has had sex with in the past year including his main partner, multiple response categories. Binary variable created for 0/1 v. 2 or more.
Psychological factors and substance abuse
Depression	20 item CES-D depression score, cut point of 16+ taken as indicating a high level of depressive symptomatology.
Life satisfaction	Measure of satisfaction with current life circumstances based on 4-items scored on a 4-point scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree – In most ways my life is close to my ideal; The conditions in my life are excellent; I am satisfied with my life; So far I have gotten the important things I want in life. Alpha = 0.79.
Alcohol problems	Based on AUDIT scale: frequency of drinking, number of drinks usually consumed, frequency of binge drinking (6+ drinks) and feelings of guilt or remorse after drinking and failure to do what was normally expected from you because of drinking
Engagement in violence outside the home and drug use
Involvement in gangs	Has ever participated in a gang.
Involved in fights with weapons	Has ever been involved in a fight with a knife, gun or other weapon.
Past year drug use	Has ever used drugs in the last 12 months.
Violence against women:
Non-partner rape ever	2 items asked about having ‘forced a woman who was not your wife or girlfriend at the time to have sex’ or having ‘had sex with a woman who was too drunk or drugged to indicate whether she wanted it’. Two more asked about having done these with other men. A binary variable was derived from responses categories as ever v. never.
>1 episode of physical and/or sexual IPV	5 items on physical intimate partner violence perpetration were South African adaptations for men from the WHO Multi-country Study measure. 2 items on sexual violence against a partner asking about ‘forced sex’ or sex ‘forced when he knew she didn’t want it but believed she should agree because she was his wife/partner’ (this second question was not included in Bangladesh). Each had never, once, few, many response options. Variable was derived categorizing responses into never or one act of physical/sexual IPV vs more than one.
>1 episodes or acts of emotional IPV	5 items from the WHO Multi-country Study measure asked about ever: insulting his partner, scaring her, threatening her, humiliating her, damaging property or people who cares about. Each had never, once, few, many response options. Variable was derived categorizing responses into never or one act vs more than one.
>1 episodes or acts of economic IPV	4 items from the WHO Multi-country Study measure asked about ever: Prohibited a partner from getting a job, going to work, trading or earning money; took her earnings against her will; threw her out of the house; kept money from his earnings for alcohol, tobacco or other things for himself when he knew his partner was finding it hard to afford the household expenses. Each had never, once, few, many response options. Variable was derived categorizing responses into never or one act vs more than one.