Tolerance of Domestic Violence as a Sexual Health Risk: Insights from Kazakstan

Cynthia Buckley, University of Texas at Austin
Jennifer Barrett, University of Texas at Austin

This paper utilizes data from the 1999 Demographic and Health Survey in Kazakhstan, in-depth interviews with health care providers, and abuse hotline reports in Almaty to examine the associations between male attitudes towards wife beating and their reported levels of sexual health knowledge, attitudes and practices. In the 1999 KDHS nearly one quarter of the 1,440 men questioned on acceptability of wife beating under 5 specific scenarios, supported abuse in one or more situations. Men accepting domestic violence in two or more scenarios are more likely to lack information concerning sexually transmitted diseases other than HIV/AIDS, hold incorrect beliefs concerning the transmissions of HIV/AIDS, and are more likely to normalize risky behaviors (multiple partners, paid sexual partners) than men reporting wife beating as unacceptable. Utilizing attitudes on wife beating as a proxy for power relationships, we highlight the association between perceptions of women's status and elevated sexual health risk.