VIOLENCE: FROM THE POLITICAL TO THE PERSONAL EXAMINING LINKS BETWEEN CONFLICT AND INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE IN LIBERIA
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Date
2017-04-07
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
Background: Each year, war and interpersonal violence account for a significant burden on morbidity and mortality worldwide. Roughly one third of violence-related deaths are attributed to interpersonal violence and one-fifth are attributed war. New scholarship has shown how violence can spread across populations temporally and spatially. Yet the link between armed conflict and postconflict interpersonal violence is poorly documented.
Methods: This dissertation will use multilevel modeling to assess the link between levels of armed conflict at the district level and postconflict individual-level interpersonal violence in a single, conflict-affected nation (Liberia). Armed Conflict Location and Event Data ACLED data will be used to provide a measure of the extent to which a community has been affected by conflict at the district-level during the country’s civil war from 1999-2003. The primary predictor of conflict is whether a district experienced any versus no conflict-related fatalities during war. Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 2007 will provide information about health and social characteristics at the individual level, including the project outcomes of past-year non-partner physical violence (NPPV) and intimate partner violence (IPV).
Results: In the bivariate model, conflict as measured by a district experiencing any versus no fatalities, was associated with NPPV (OR 2.62, p<0.001). However, as individual-level demographic characteristics were added during the stepwise model fitting procedure, this association became attenuated and no longer reached significance (aOR 1.43, p=0.197). For IPV, there was a strong association with conflict in the bivariate analysis (aOR 2.10, p<0.001). This association remained significant, although attenuated, after individual-level characteristics were added to the final multilevel model (aOR 1.55, p<0.001).
Discussion: The impact of political conflict on future interpersonal violence has implications for a country’s ability to achieve lasting peace and prosperity. This research suggests that living in a district that experienced fatalities during war can increase the risk of experiencing interpersonal violence in the postconflict period. These results were more pronounced for IPV than for NPPV. Even after adjusting for known individual-level correlates of IPV, residence in a fatality-affected district was significantly associated with a 50% increase in risk of abuse.
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Keywords
Intimate partner violence, conflict, Liberia, civil war, women's health, postconflict health