Educational Attainment and Domestic Violence in Uganda

Domestic violence is a problem of public concern, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and many developing countries. This is due to its far reaching social, economic and public health consequences. In Uganda, there is absence of a domestic violence law and therefore the police and courts rely on laws that cover assault and homicide to handle it. Drawing on a sample of 2367 from the 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) data, for men and women currently married and those living together, the study seeks to examine the effect of educational attainment, some socio-economic and demographic characteristics on domestic violence.
Respondents with complete secondary and higher education status were less likely (OR=0.918) to experience physical violence compared to respondents with no education. Respondents who did not complete primary are about 2 times as likely as respondents with no education to experience emotional violence (p<0.01). Respondents with seasonal employment were more likely to experience physical violence than respondents who had employment all year (OR= 1.513). It is recommended, based on the findings, that promotion of formal education should be emphasized an important component in campaigns against domestic violence in Uganda.