Sexual Violence against Women in Marital dyads, Prevalence, Correlates and Consequences: A Situation Among The Ijesa Of South-Western Nigeria

Sexual violence is a global public health concern. However, population-based studies of its determinants and reproductive health consequences remain scarce in Nigeria. Sexual violence in marital dyads and its possible negative reproductive health outcomes is a form of rape that remains to be understood. This paper investigates the nature and prevalence of Intimate partner sexual violence against women. The data is drawn from a study on Intimate Partner Violence among Ijesa of South Western Nigeria. . The results showed that 42.7% of all respondents experienced sexual violence. The logistic regression results showed that religion, occupation, type of marital union, desire for another child, age at marriage, knowledge of husband’s extra-marital relationship, the husband’s education, occupation, spousal age difference, sleeping together with husband on same bed, couple sharing secrets significantly affects the chances of experiencing violence. Women who have experienced sexual violence significantly have more births, had higher prevalence of STIs than those who never experienced sexual violence. Endurance is the main coping strategy employed by women who have experienced sexual violence. In sum, sexual violence has negative reproductive health consequences on women. The results underscore the need to prevent its incidence.