When Families Fail: Women's Responses to Spousal Violence in Central Asia

Family violence is among the Grand Challenges for Social Work. Central Asian women report high rates of family violence, and yet they have limited options for responding to spousal violence. Despite the significance of the social problem, social workers are only beginning to develop interventions to address spousal violence in Central Asia. Authors used the domestic violence module from the 2012 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for analysis of spousal dynamics and women's responses to spousal violence. Dependent variables were help seeking, physical retaliation against husband, and divorce from husband, and independent variables were severe mixed violence, injuries, and fear. Authors applied latent class analysis for identifying types of violence experienced by women. Logistic regression was used to measure associations between variables. Authors utilized bootstrapping percentile confidence intervals for assessing the indirect effects of severe violence via injuries and fear. Severe mixed violence and injuries were related to an increased likelihood of a woman's response, while fear of husband reduced the likelihood of physical retaliation and divorce. Results suggest a strong need for social work interventions.