Attitudes of Turkish men toward wife beating: A study from Bursa, Turkey

Abstract

The objectives of this cross-sectional, descriptive, questionnaire study were to explore men's attitudes toward wife beating and examine the possible predictors. A total of 1,150 married men aged 18 and up, who had received primary health care in a defined period were the participants. The lifetime prevalence of wife beating was 29.0%. Of the men studied, 42.7% were themselves victims of physical violence during childhood. About 17.9% of the participants thought that they had the right to beat their wives. Significant predictors in logistic regression analysis included women's low education (OR=2.8; 95%CI=1.26-6.46), number of children (OR=2.4; 95%CI=1.34-4.51), childhood beatings (OR=1.6; 95%CI=1.25-2.16) and alcohol intake (OR=1.9; 95%CI=1.49-2.63).Wife beating is a problem in Turkey. To change male attitudes, alcohol abuse control interventions and child abuse prevention should be implemented.