AbstractsWomens Studies

Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2013. Domestic violence has a serious impact on women's health and their children not only in Cambodia but also in the world. Limited research is available on this topic in Cambodia. Guiding theories for this study are implicit theory on domestic violence and help-seeking theoretical model for women who are victims of violence from their husbands and/or partners. In accordance with these theories, help-seeking among married women who experienced domestic violence may be related to further abuse and severity from their husbands/partners. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation aims to evaluate associations between help-seeking and re-abuse as well as severity of domestic violence against married women in Cambodia. The present study used both quantitative and qualitative methods for the analysis. Data for quantitative method came from the 2005 Demographic Health and Survey among married women in Cambodia. Data for qualitative method came from the interviews with seven governmental and non-governmental organizations working on domestic violence in Cambodia. This study used statistical software SAS version 9.3 to perform data analysis. The analysis included a total number of 2294 married women by calculating frequencies, percentages, and correlations of all variables. To evaluate the associations between help-seeking and re-abuse/severity of violence, the study used Multiple Logistic Regression to compute odds ratios and its corresponding p-values. This study found a statistically significant association between help-seeking and re-abuse with an odds ratio of 1.57 (p=0.04). Help-seeking also significantly associated with severity of violence with an odds ratio of 2.35 (p<0.001). Moreover, the association between re-abuse and severity of violence was significant with an odds ratio of 5.41 (p<0.0001). Qualitative interviews with other stakeholders working on domestic violence in Cambodia confirmed that help-seeking is also a risk factor for abused women to get further and more severe violence from husbands. In conclusion, help-seeking is a significant predictor for re-abuse and severity of violence among Cambodian married women who experienced domestic violence. Re-abuse is also a significant predictor for severity of violence.