Prevalence, pattern and determinants of dating violence among young persons in Benin City, Edo State

Abstract

Background: Dating violence (DV) and its negative effects are a present public health issue of concern. The study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence, pattern and determinants of DV among young persons in Benin City.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Benin City, Edo State among young persons aged 15-24years. Two-stage sampling technique was used to select the respondents. The data was obtained from a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire adapted from WHO multi-country survey on domestic violence. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 22.0. The level of significance was p < 0.05.

Results: A total of 750 respondents with mean age 20.65 ± 2.01 years participated in the study. The lifetime and one-year prevalence of DV was 396 (52.3%) and 354 (47.2%), respectively. A higher proportion of respondents suffered psychological violence with the lifetime and one-year prevalence of 339 (45.2%) and 294 (39.2%), respectively. Significant determinants of DV were age (p = 0.009), aggressive behavior (p = 0.005) and risky sexual behavior (p = 0.001)

Conclusion: The prevalence of DV was high among the respondents. Preventive DV interventions such as health education and peer counselling for this age group is advocated.