Acceptance of Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Malawi: An Empirical Analysis on the Impacts of Lineage and AIDS Conversation Networks

Acceptance of intimate partner violence (IPV) is both a barrier to its reduction and a strong predictor of prevalence. This study examines whether lineage and AIDS conversation networks impact acceptance of IPV among men and women in rural Malawi. The sample consists of 4,422 male and female respondents from the 2001, 2004, and 2006 waves of the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH). The longitudinal nature of the data enables us to use not only random effects models in the empirical analysis, but also fixed effects models, which help alleviate omitted variable bias. Our findings suggest that in the patrilineal Northern Region of Malawi, AIDS conversation networks may be conducive toward reducing acceptance of IPV. However, AIDS conversation networks may reinforce violent norms in the Central Region of Malawi as men with larger AIDS conversation networks are more accepting of IPV. These findings imply there may be an opportunity to incorporate network-based policies to reduce IPV, and lineage may be an important consideration in forming policies to alleviate IPV. In addition, we find a relatively strong age-acceptance gradient, with younger, never-married individuals being less accepting of IPV than older, married individuals. This finding may help inform intervention targeting as older, married women in Malawi may be at a higher risk of IPV.