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Domestic violence against women as a risk factor for depressive and anxiety disorders: findings from domestic violence household survey in Tehran, Iran

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Abstract

Domestic violence (DV) especially intimate partner violence is a global health problem responsible for significant part of burden of diseases in women. Mental health problems such as depression and anxiety are possibly results and resulted in IPV. To investigate correlation between IPV and depression and anxiety among married women, in a household survey of married women in Tehran, Iran, at summer 2011, we recruited 615 samples with cluster sampling method and they are directly asked about experience of 23 different types of physical and non-physical IPV during marital life and last 12 months. Depression and anxiety were assessed by Beck depression inventory II (BDI) and Beck Anxiety inventory (BAI). Multinominal regression model was used to assess the independent relationship of factor on IPV. Mean (±SE) age and duration of marriage were 42.6 ± 0.9 and 22 ± 0.8, respectively. Non-physical violence and physical violence during marital life reported in 77.2 and 35.1 %. Clinically significant depression and anxiety was reported in 15.3 and 32.7 % of women, respectively. The odds ratio (95 % CI) of clinically significant depression and anxiety in DV victims were 5.8 (2.3–14.6) and 2.6 (1.6–4.3). DV as a social factor is significantly correlated factor with depression and anxiety. Comprehensive view and collaborative work to detect and address social determinants of mental illness like DV is a crucial point in mental health promotion programs.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all women participated generously with patience in providing data giving us not only as much valid data as we aimed to gather but also valuable humanistic intentions to work against domestic violence against women. We also be gratitude to the cooperation of data collection and administrative team members: Hussein Abtahi, Mitra Moradpour, Rasool Soltani, Mina Javadi, Elham Kheiri, Hadi Meserghani whom without their commitment to the study there would be no such a quality we reached. This manuscript shows findings from the “study of service utilization, depression and anxiety with domestic violence among married women in Tehran, Iran” project as a part of the two psychiatric specialty dissertations of M.A.A and N.Z. and granted project no. 89-04-121-12426 of M.R. from MHRC, TUMS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mental Health Research Center, Tehran Institute of Psychiatry, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Masoud Ahmadzad-Asl & Noushin Zarei

  2. Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Farnoush Davoudi

  3. Mental Health Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Homa Mohammad-Sadeghi

  4. Mental Health Research Center, Tehran Psychiatry Institute, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Maryam Rasoulian

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  1. Masoud Ahmadzad-Asl
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  2. Farnoush Davoudi
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  3. Noushin Zarei
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  4. Homa Mohammad-Sadeghi
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  5. Maryam Rasoulian
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Correspondence to Maryam Rasoulian.

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Ahmadzad-Asl, M., Davoudi, F., Zarei, N. et al. Domestic violence against women as a risk factor for depressive and anxiety disorders: findings from domestic violence household survey in Tehran, Iran. Arch Womens Ment Health 19, 861–869 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-016-0626-4

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