Is Domestic Violence Related to Early Child Mortality? Evidence from North India

Saifuddin Ahmed, Johns Hopkins University
Michael Koenig, Johns Hopkins University
Rob Stephenson, Emory University

This study examined the effects of domestic violence during pregnancy on fetal deaths and neonatal mortality, as well as long-term effects on child survival in Uttar Pradesh, India, a setting characterized by very low women’s autonomy and high levels of violence within marriage. The study is unique from several perspectives: the study is based on representative samples of general population; used the responses on wife beating and abuses from the husbands; used statistical adjustments with propensity scores for selectivity bias reduction. The results shows that women who experienced domestic violence that continued through pregnancy period or initiated during the index pregnancy were significantly more likely to have higher perinatal (OR:2.59; 95% CI: 1.48-4.51) ) and neonatal mortality deaths (OR: 2.37; 95% CI: 1.36-4.15). The differentials, however, attenuated during the postneonatal period. After the first year of life, essentially there is no difference in the risk of child mortality by mother’s violence status.