Intimate Partner Violence in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: What Neighbours Think and Spouses Do

The risk of experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) is closely tied to attitudes justifying IPV at individual, couple and societal levels. We analysed how women’s IPV risk varies with their own and their spouse’s attitudes, local community acceptance and country-level gender equality. Using data from 148,421 couples across 30 low- and middle-income countries and 34 Indian states, we estimated Bayesian regression models via Markov Chain Monte Carlo with uninformative priors. IPV justification and IPV experience varied significantly across and within countries. Women’s risk was more strongly associated with their own attitudes than with their husbands’ attitudes. Community-level justification independently increased risk, while higher country-level gender equality was linked to lower IPV exposures. The association between neighbourhood norms and women’s risk was moderated by spousal attitudes, with the association strongest among couples in which neither partner justified IPV. Country-level gender equality consistently reduced women’s risk regardless of couples’ attitudes. These findings suggest that focusing solely on couples where husbands perpetrate IPV is insufficient. Sustainable prevention efforts must also address community norms and structural gender inequality.