Description
The purpose of this study was to identify correlates of IPV perpetration by Peruvian men at the individual, relationship and community levels of the ecological model for understanding violence. A secondary analysis of household survey data available from the Instituto Nacional de Salud Mental “Honorio Delgado - Hideyo Noguchi” (INSM “HD-HN”) in Lima, Peru was performed for a sample of 2063 men from Lima and three cities in the highlands. Predictor variables were self-reported by men in the sample, IPV within the couple was reported by their current female partners living in the same household. Differences in association of predictor variables to physical and/or sexual IPV, emotional IPV, and no IPV (reference category) were assessed by multinomial logistic regression to develop a single regression model. The average age of the men in the sample was 49 years and 27.7% were identified by their female partners as perpetrators of physical and/or sexual IPV, 10.4% as perpetrators of emotional IPV, and 62.0% as not being perpetrators. Correlates that showed significant association to IPV at the individual level were machista attitudes (adjOR=4.34 physical and/or sexual, and 3.30 emotional), violent tendencies (adjOR=1.54 physical and/or sexual), money as a stressor (adjOR=1.94 little stress, and 1.88 fair stress for physical and/or sexual) and educational level (adjOR=0.52 high school and 0.29 higher education for physical and/or sexual); and at the community level, geographic region (adjOR=0.52 physical and/or sexual and 0.55 emotional). Stratification by geographic region showed differences in correlates of IPV for Lima and the highland cities. Overall, the strongest predictor of IPV perpetration in this sample was machista attitudes, showing a positive association to both forms of IPV studied. This association was strongest in the highlands compared to Lima for both forms of IPV (adjOR=12.36 vs 4.16 for physical and/or sexual IPV and 7.5 vs 3.14 for emotional IPV respectively). These results confirm previous quantitative and qualitative data that situate male perpetration of IPV on females in a context of gender inequality and power imbalance between men and women and can provide a target for intervention in order to prevent IPV perpetration in Peru.
