Gender Inequality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Associations with Parental Physical Abuse and Moderation by Child Gender

Julie Ma (), Andrew C. Grogan-Kaylor, Shawna J. Lee, Kaitlin P. Ward and Garrett T. Pace
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Julie Ma: Department of Social Work, University of Michigan-Flint, 303 E. Kearsley St., Flint, MI 48502, USA
Andrew C. Grogan-Kaylor: School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Shawna J. Lee: School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Kaitlin P. Ward: School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Garrett T. Pace: School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-14

Abstract: Gender inequality perpetuates women’s economic insecurity and a culture of violence. Parental distress caused by economic pressure may increase violence against children. High levels of gender inequality and interpersonal violence may contribute to higher levels of physical abuse. Using an ecological perspective, this study examines the association of country-level gender inequality and household-level parental physical abuse, and the moderating role of child gender in this association in low- and middle-income countries. We used data on over 420,000 households from the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and country-level indicators from the United Nations Development Program Human Development data. We employed multilevel logistic regression to examine the association between gender inequality with the log-odds of physical abuse after accounting for country- and individual-level covariates. In order to more fully explore our results, we calculated predicted probabilities of abuse for several scenarios. The results indicated that higher levels of gender inequality were associated with higher probabilities of physical abuse. This association was stronger for female children than for male children. The probabilities of abuse by child gender were indistinguishable, although rates of physical abuse converged as gender inequality increased, at a statistically marginal level. These findings indicate that macro-level interventions that reduce gender inequality are necessary to prevent and reduce child physical abuse.

Keywords: child maltreatment; child physical abuse; family violence; UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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