Abstract
Background: Cohabitation is vulnerable from legal perspective. However, legal marriage does not exempt women from experiencing sexual abuse, while marriage is often misused as a justification. This study aimed to examine the impact of marital status on the incidence of sexual violence against women within couples.
Study Design: A cross-sectional study.
Methods: The secondary analysis examined the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, which analyzed 8811 respondents. The study used sexual violence as an outcome variable and marital status as an exposure variable. Meanwhile, five control variables were analyzed: age, marital status, education, employment, wealth, and recent sexual activity. The study employed binary logistic regression (significance level at p < 0.05) using IBM SPSS 21.
Results: Sexual violence was reported by 5.3% of women living with a partner and 2.6% of married women (p < 0.001). Based on marital status, women in cohabitation relationship were 1.57 times more likely than those married to experience sexual violence (AOR 1.857; 95% CI 1.857, 1.858). Several factors were also significantly associated with increased risk of sexual violence, including urban residence (AOR: 1.139), younger age (e.g., 20–24 years: AOR: 1.766), lower education (no education: AOR: 2.045), unemployment (AOR: 1.415), being non-pregnant (AOR: 1.221), recent sexual activity (AOR: 1.266), and women in middle and richer groups (AOR: 1.175; AOR:1.414).
Conclusion: The evaluation concluded that marital status was related to sexual violence against women among Ghanaian couples. Women who living in cohabitation with a partner were more likely than married women to experience sexual violence.