Domestic Violence in a Post-Conflict African Setting: A study of gender and role on personality ...

272 Pages·2016·3.35 MB·English

University of Huddersfield Repository
Karugahe, Wilbur
Domestic Violence in a Post­Conflict African Setting: A study of gender and role on personality, 
coping styles, attitudes to coercion and self­reported victimization in a Ugandan urban sample
Original Citation
Karugahe, Wilbur (2016) Domestic Violence in a Post­Conflict African Setting: A study of gender 
and role on personality, coping styles, attitudes to coercion and self­reported victimization in a 
Ugandan urban sample. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. 
This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/28351/
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Domestic Violence in a Post-Conflict African Setting:
A study of gender and role on personality, coping styles, attitudes to
coercion and self-reported victimization in a Ugandan urban sample

Wilber Karugahe

A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

April 2016
2

Copyright Statement
i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this
thesis) owns any copyright in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The
University of Huddersfield the right to use such copyright for any
administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes.
ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in
accordance with the regulations of the University Library. Details of these
regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of
any such copies made.
iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trademarks and any and all other
intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the “Intellectual Property
Rights”) and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and
tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be
owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual
Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for
use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant
Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions
3

Abstract
Domestic violence has been gradually increasing globally with developing countries across Sub-Saharan
Africa being the most affected (WHO, 2013). Uganda, in particular, ranks highest in relation to the
incidence of domestic violence (UNICEF, 2000). This situation led to the enactment of the first domestic
violence legislation in the country, the Domestic Violence Act, 2010; this makes domestic violence a crime
and is particularly focused on reducing violence to women (Uganda GBV Guidelines, 2013). Women make
up the majority of victims of domestic violence in Uganda and are subject to gender inequality within a
patriarchal society that particularly disadvantages them. However, the argument of this thesis is firstly,
although there are strong cultural factors implicated in violence against women, notably practices of wife
inheritance, forced marriage and societal sanctioning of wife beating, there has been an over-reliance on
cultural explanations for the problem (Bowman, 2006, Speizer, 2010) at the expense of exploring
psychological factors. It is argued that understanding psychological issues related to domestic violence is
particularly important in post-conflict settings since the literature shows that wars and violence at the
societal level often get played out in the domestic sphere and can contribute significantly to the generation
of psychological harm and personality issues (Saunders et al., 1999). Victims often use different coping
behaviours-strategies to protect themselves from negative feelings and thoughts (Fritsch & Warrier, 2004)
but what remains unclear is how both genders engage coping styles. Secondly, in an attempt to address the
needs of women as victims, policy and practice in Uganda has failed to recognise the way that women can
contribute to the victimisation of other women (particularly relevant in a context in which polygamous
households and co-wives are normative) and also to men, who in such a patriarchal society may experience
difficulties acknowledging victimhood and seeking help.
Using non-coercive questionnaires administered to 60 victims and 60 perpetrators of both genders in an
urban area in Uganda, this study aimed to explore the relationship, impact of gender and role in domestic
violence based sub-scales on: attitudes to coercion (private matter, men’s right to control, women
exaggerate, women’s behaviour used to justify, no big deal), self-reported victimisation (physical,
psychological and sexual, personality traits (neuroticism, extroversion and psychoticism) and coping styles
(problem solving, social support and avoidance). Participants faking good (Lie) was controlled as a
covariate according to Francis et al, 1999. This quantitative study employed 2x2 factorial design [gender
vs role]. MANCOVA analysis was used to test hypotheses on difference sand interactions and a Pearson
product moment correlation analysis was conducted to test hypotheses on group relationships. Since results
can be significant by chance, as recommended by Pallant 2013 p.217 this study applied Bonferroni
correction-adjustment to the alpha levels which are used to judge statistical significance on 14 dependent
variables.
The findings revealed statistically significant role (victim and perpetrator) differences but no majorg ender
differences. Results also revealed no interaction and no effect between gender and role on all
aforementioned dependent variables. However, there were statistically signifiacnt correlational findings
based on role as (victims and perpetrators) and gender for (males and females) on most sub-scales on
attitude to coercion, self-reported victimisation and coping styles except personality traits. The only
significant correlations for personality traits were between perpetrators neuroticism trait scoers and
psychological violence. Overall, exploring the psychological behaviour patterns,t he study provides insights
into the psychological characteristics of victims and perpetrators of both genders inth e Ugandan sample.
These results were then compared with western published studie sand both commonalities and differences
were identified. Studying the responses of both male and female victims and perpetrators represents the
first such research in a post-conflict African context and makes a significant contribution to knowledge.
Though specific to Uganda, the study findings point to the need for a greater awareness of the significance
of psychological factors in exploring domestic violence in Africa, especially in countries where the
population has been exposed to violence at a societal level, suc has war. Furthermore, a major contribution
is made by this study in its conclusion that there is need fora gender sensitive approacht o domestic violence
in African context, one that takes account of the differential needs of men and women as both victims and
perpetrators. Finally, ino pening up psychological explanationsf or domestic violence in addition to cultural
factors and gender inequality, the way is paved for a synergistic approach for addressing domestic violence
–one which addresses these as interlinking elements of the problem requiring simultaneous attentio n.
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Table of Contents

Copyright Statement .......................................................................................................................... 2
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 3
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................. 4
List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................... 7
List of Tables ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Dedication ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................................ 11
List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................ 12
List of Appendices ............................................................................................................................ 14
Academic Biography ........................................................................................................................ 15
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 17
1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 17
1.2 Culture .................................................................................................................................................. 20
1.3 Uganda ................................................................................................................................................. 21
1.4 What is Domestic Violence? The Definition of Domestic Violence Adopted for this Thesis ................ 31
1.5 The Nature of Domestic Violence ......................................................................................................... 34
1.6 Rationale for the Study ......................................................................................................................... 37
1.7 Central Argument of this Thesis ........................................................................................................... 41
1.8 Thesis Structure .................................................................................................................................... 43
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE –THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ................................................. 46
2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 46
2.2 Cultural Theories ................................................................................................................................. 47
2.3 Feminist Theories ................................................................................................................................. 50
2.4 Sociological Theories of Domestic Violence ........................................................................................ 53
2.5 Attachment theory................................................................................................................................. 55
2.6 Gender paradigm vs Gender symmetry ................................................................................................ 57
2.7 Dyadic and Individual Psychological theories ..................................................................................... 59
2.7.1 Individual Psychological theories ..................................................................................................... 60
2.7.2. Dyadic psychological theories ......................................................................................................... 65
2.8.1 Psychological characteristics of perpetrators: ................................................................................. 68
2.8.2 Psychological characteristics of victims: .......................................................................................... 71
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2.9 Justification for this study (Rationale) ................................................................................................. 74
2.10 Research Questions ............................................................................................................................ 93
2.10 Hypotheses ......................................................................................................................................... 94
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 95
3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 95
3.2 Study Design ......................................................................................................................................... 95
3. 3 Participants in the Study ..................................................................................................................... 96
3.4 Sampling Strategies .............................................................................................................................. 96
3.5 Sample –Description of Participants.................................................................................................... 97
3.6 Measures / Questionnaires ................................................................................................................... 98
3.7 Procedures ......................................................................................................................................... 102
3.8 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 107
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 109
4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 109
4.2.1 Demographic Characteristics ......................................................................................................... 109
4.2.2 Inferential Statistics Results Structure Overview. ........................................................................... 114
4.3 Attitude to Coercive Behaviours Results. ........................................................................................... 115
4.4 Domestic Violence Results. ................................................................................................................ 127
4.5 Personality Traits Results. ................................................................................................................. 133
4.6 Coping Strategies Results. .................................................................................................................. 138
4.7 Hypothesis 1: Summary explicitly reflecting how findings link to hypothesis one. ............................ 143
4.8 Hypothesis 2-3: Correlation Matrices and how these findings link to this study hypotheses Two and
Three......................................................................................................................................................... 146
4.9 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 157
CHAPTER 5: RESULTS DISCUSSED IN RELATION TO THE WIDER LITERATURE ......... 159
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 159
5.2 Domestic Violence Review of Literature (Previous studies) .............................................................. 161
5.3 Attitudes towards Coercive Behaviours Review of Literature (Previous Studies) ............................. 177
5.4 Personality traits Review of Literature (Previous Studies) ................................................................ 179
5.5 Coping Strategies Review of Literature (Previous Studies) ............................................................... 182
5.6 Psychological Characteristics of Male and Female Victims of Domestic Violence .......................... 183
5.7 Psychological Characteristics of Male and Female Perpetrators of Domestic Violence. ................. 185
5.8 Summary on Data Driven Review of Literature in relation to Results from Ugandan Sample. ......... 188
CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 189
6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 189
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6.2 Summary of the Main Findings .......................................................................................................... 189
6.3 Main Contribution of this Research to African Scholarship .............................................................. 209
6.4 The Implications of the Research for Policy and Practice within Uganda. ....................................... 211
6.5 Limitations of the Study ...................................................................................................................... 215
6.6 Implications for Future Research (Future Directions) ...................................................................... 219
6.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 223
6.8 Reflexivity ........................................................................................................................................... 226
References ................................................................................................................................................ 227
Questionnaire .......................................................................................................................................... 256
Appendix 1: Victims and Perpetrators Information sheet. ....................................................................... 264
Appendix 2: Consent Forms for Respondents ......................................................................................... 265
Appendix 3: Ethical Approval from University of Huddersfield (SREP) ................................................ 266
Appendix 4: Approval from Uganda National Council for Science & Tech (UNCST) ........................... 267
Appendix 5: Approval from Institutional Committee Review in Uganda ................................................ 268
Appendix 6: Permission Letter from Commissioner of Uganda Police CFPU. ....................................... 269
Appendix 7: Permission Letter from NGO (RECESCVID) ..................................................................... 270
Appendix 8: Frequencies of how Domestic Violence starts reported by Victims & Perpetrators. .......... 271
Word Count:
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Gender Based Violence Referral Pathway Option Used in Uganda .................. 25
Figure 2: Smallest Space Analysis Themes on Sub-Scales by 120 Participants ............. 104
Figure 3: Smallest Space Analysis Themes on Sub-Scales by 60 Victims .................... .105
Figure 4: Smallest Space Analysis Themes on Su-bScales by 60 Perpetrators ............. 105
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List of Tables
Table 1.1: Global-Regional Lifetime Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence ............... 17
Table 4.2.1: Descriptive Statistics on Age of Respondents ........................................... 110
Table 4.2.2: Descriptive Domestic Violence Role across Religions ............................... 111
Table 4.2.3: Descriptive Education/Qualification and Domestic Violence .................... 111
Table 4.2.4: Descriptive Socio-economic Status and Domestic Violence ..................... 112
Table 4.2.5: Descriptive Employment Status and Domestic Violence .......................... 113
Table 4.3.1: Descriptive Statistics for Gender and Role on Attitudes to Coercion ......... 115
Table 4.3.2: Multivariate Test Results on Attitudes to Coercion ................................... 120
Table 4.3.3: Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variances Results for all Variables .... 121
Table 4.3.4: Tests of Between –Subjects Effects on Attitudes to Coercion ................... 123
Table 4.3.5: Victims and Perpetrators Post-hoc ANCOVA on Attitudes to Coercion ... 125
Table 4.3.6: Males and Females Post-hoc ANCOVA on Attitudes to Coercion ............ 126
Table 4.4.1: Descriptive Statistics for Gender and Role on Domestic ............................ 127
Table 4.4.2: Multivariate Test Results on Domestic Violence ....................................... 128
Table 4.4.3: Tests of Between –Subjects Effects on Domestic Violence ...................... 129
Table 4.4.4: Victims and Perpetrators Post-hoc ANCOVA on Domestic Violence ...... 131
Table 4.4.5: Males and Females Post-hoc ANCOVA on Domestic Violence ................ 132
Table 4.5.1: Descriptive Statistics for Gender and Role on Personality traits ................ 133
Table 4.5.2: Multivariate Test Results on Personality traits ........................................... 134
Table 4.5.3: Tests of Between –Subjects Effects on Personality traits .......................... 135
Table 4.5.4: Victims and Perpetrators Post-hoc ANCOVA on Personality traits ........... 136
Table 4.5.5: Males and Females Post-hoc ANCOVA on Personality traits .................... 137
Table 4.6.1: Descriptive Statistics for Gender and Role on Coping Strategies .............. 138
Table 4.6.2: Multivariate Test Results on Coping Strategies .......................................... 139
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Table 4.6.3: Tests of Between –Subjects Effects on Coping Strategies ........................ 140
Table 4.6.4: Victims and Perpetrators Post-hoc ANCOVA on Coping Strategies ......... 142
Table 4.6.5: Males and Females Post-hoc ANCOVA on Coping Strategies .................. 142
Table 4.7.1: Correlation Matrix for Males on all Dependent Variables Sub-Scales ....... 148
Table 4.7.2: Correlation Matrix for Females on all Dependent Variables Sub-Scales ... 150
Table 4.7.3: Correlation Matrix for Victims on all Dependent Variables Sub-Scales ... 153
Table 4.7.4: Correlation Matrix for Victims on all Dependent Variables Sub-Scales ... 155
Table 5.2.1: Literature –Sourced: Types of abusive behaviour by gender ................... 167
Table 5.2.2: Literature –Sourced: Perpetrator or Victim? Variables Means & S. D ... 151
Table 5.2.3: Literature –Sourced: Shows binary Correlation between Violence Types . 175
Table 5.2.3: Literature –Sourced: Gender differences in types of Violence/Abuse ....... 176
Table 5.4.1: Correlations between Eysenck’s Personality traits, Coping styles ............. 181