Familial Risk and Dowry Demand: Are they Causal Factors for Physical and Psychological Violence among Women? A Structural Equation Modeling

Thenmozhi Mani — 2024-06-30

Background: In India, studies dealt with domestic violence have used linear or logistic regression to present risk factors. These methods do not allow studying the impact of intermediate variables on the path which could exert indirect or mediation effects on the outcome. This study investigated the direct and indirect effects of familial risk and dowry demand on physical and psychological violence through the mediating variables: alcohol use, women characteristics and social support. Study design: A population-based, cross-sectional household survey was conducted at seven sites in six states across India, based on 9938 women. Methods: Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural equation models were used to investigate the associations of familial risk, dowry demand and mediating variable use with physical and psychological violence. Models were assessed using goodness of fit statistics. Results: The direct and indirect relationship between familial risk and physical violence with regression coefficient was 0.323 and 0.100 respectively. Similarly, for psychological violence was 0.151 and 0.371 respectively. The dowry demand had indirect effect (0.209) on psychological violence through the mediating variables such as alcohol use, women characteristics, social support and physical violence as compared to direct effects (0.112). The model fit statistics had a moderately good fit with RMSEA=0.09, Chi square with p<0.001 and CFI 0.87. Conclusion: Despite the fact that the women were exposed to abuse during childhood period the mediating variables such as social support, women characteristics and Husbands alcohol use etc., have a significant role to play to contain the both physical and psychological violence.

Status of Alcohol Consumption among Medical Students in Nepalgunj Medical College: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Saharoj Siddiqui — 2024-06-30

Background: The growth in alcohol consumption is skyrocketing. Alcohol ranks first as the most commonly misused substance by medical students. Considerably more stress has been documented among medical students. They tend to consume alcohol to cope with stressful situations. Excessive drinking can lead to consequences like loss of concentration and poor performance in academics. While there is extensive research on alcohol consumption patterns in various populations, there is a notable scarcity of localized studies, particularly in medical schools in periphery of Nepal. This study aims to fill the gap by providing specific data on the status of alcohol consumption among students at Nepalgunj Medical College. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among medical students of Nepalgunj Medical College. Results: Among 406, 15% (61) consumed alcohol. Among the alcohol consumers, 15% were CAGE positive and possibly have alcohol problems and all of them were male. About 32.8% of them initiated drinking due to peer pressure, 29.5% of the students started out of curiosity. Conclusion: The prevalence of alcohol consumption is comparatively lower among medical students in Nepalgunj Medical College. However, the alcohol problem is more among the drinkers. Alcohol problem is very common in male and final-year students. The most common reasons for initiation of drinking by them is peer pressure. Further studies regarding alcohol abuse pattern, its determinants, and treatment among the medical students are the current necessities to apply the proper interventional strategies to ensure the production of compatible and genuine doctors in the future.

Asian Pacific Journal of Health Sciences

Familial Risk and Dowry Demand: Are they Causal Factors for Physical and Psychological Violence among Women? A Structural Equation Modeling

Status of Alcohol Consumption among Medical Students in Nepalgunj Medical College: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study