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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Leland K. Ackerson, MPH, Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD, Elizabeth Barbeau, ScD, and S.V. Subramanian, PhD. Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, 7th Floor, Boston, MA 02115, (617) 432-3934, lackerso@hsph.harvard.edu

Despite the reported high prevalence of domestic violence (DV) in India, there is little research on the impact of domestic violence on health behaviors. We propose to investigate the association between DV and adult smoking among women in India. The analysis will be based on a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of over 90,000 ever-married women interviewed in person for the 1998-99 Indian National Family Health Survey, which had a response rate of 96%. In preliminary analyses, we discovered that 2.6% of these women reported being a current smoker (outcome), and 19.4% reported having experienced DV (exposure). In unadjusted models, the odds ratio of being a current smoker for those who have experienced DV compared to those who have not was 1.54 (95% CI, 1.42-1.66). We propose to extend this preliminary analysis by examining the attenuation of the effect of DV on smoking status after we control for covariates that influence smoking and DV. Furthermore, adopting a multilevel perspective, we will also investigate whether there are individual and collective components to DV, such that there are independent adverse effects of having experienced DV, and living in a residential context that has a high prevalence of DV.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to identify domestic violence victimization and residence in an area that has a high prevalence of domestic violence as risk factors for smoking in India.

Keywords: Smoking, Domestic Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered