Citation

Costa DC, Ribeiro MR, Batista RF, Valente CM, Ribeiro JV, Almeida LA, Costa LE, Alves MTSSBE, Silva AA. Cad. Saude Publica 2017; 33(1): e00078515.

Affiliation

Programa de Pós-graduação em Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, São Luís, Brasil.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Escola Nacional De Saude Publica)

DOI

10.1590/0102-311X00078515

PMID

28125120

Abstract

The factors associated with physical violence against pregnant women were analyzed in a cross-sectional study of 1,446 pregnant women from a prenatal cohort who were interviewed in 2010 and 2011 in São Luís, Brazil. In the initial model, socioeconomic status occupied the most distal position, determining sociodemographic factors, social support and the behavioral factors that ultimately determined physical violence, which was investigated as a latent variable. Structural equation modeling was used in the analysis. Pregnant women who were from more disadvantaged backgrounds (p = 0.027), did not reside with intimate partners (p = 0.005), had low social support (p < 0.001) and had a high number of lifetime intimate partners (p = 0.001) reported more episodes of physical violence. Low social support was the primary mediator of the effect of socioeconomic status on physical violence. The effect of marital status was mainly mediated by a high number of lifetime intimate partners.

Language: en