Spousal Disagreement in the Reporting of Physical Violence Against Wives in Southern Egypt

Abstract

Using data from a probability sample of 943 married women and men in Assiut and Souhag, Egypt, we explored spousal reports of lifetime physical intimate partner violence (IPV) against wives and the determinants of spousal disagreement overall and by type. More than one third of wives and about one third of husbands reported wife beating since marriage. More than one quarter of couples disagreed about its occurrence, usually because wives reported wife beating when their husbands did not. Wife-yes-husband-no and wife-no-husband-yes disagreements were more common among couples who were married for more than 7 years, suggesting poor recall by either spouse of distant events, an unwillingness of husbands and wives to disclose a distant event, or variable within-couple definitions of what constitutes wife beating. Wife-yes-husband-yes and wife-yes-husband-no responses were more common among wives with little or no schooling, suggesting that these women were more likely to experience physical IPV and to have husbands who denied its occurrence.