Alcoholic husband and domestic violence a study of rural women in tirunelveli district

Abstract

Consumption of alcohol and domestic violence are interlinked. newlineDrinking is predominantly a masculine activity. Though not being active newlineparticipants in men s drinking women are always present in the scenario, newlinemostly as victims and forgiving supporters. Little is known about the living newlineexperiences of rural women who have their husbands as alcoholics, especially newlinein the southern villages of Tamil Nadu. The present study attempts to fill in newlinethis gap by identifying the women who have alcoholic husbands and collecting newlinedata from them regarding the drinking pattern and problematic behavior of the newlinehusbands, the family problems arising out of alcoholism, the nature and extent newlineof domestic violence inflicted on the housewives and the coping strategies newlinefollowed by them. newlineA sample of 242 rural married women who had alcoholic husbands newlinewere randomly selected and directly interviewed with a structured interview newlineschedule. The collected data were analyzed with frequency and percent newlinedistributions, analysis of variance, correlation and multiple regression. Three newlineout of five of the husbands drink daily or weekly. In most of the cases, friends newlineare the drinking companions. The important reasons stated for alcoholism are newlinework fatigue and body pain. Psychological violence is found more among the newlineaged, illiterate / primary educated women. Duration of drinking habit and newlinefrequency of drinking intensifies psychological violence. Physical violence is newlinefound more among the middle age groups, especially in the age group of 41 to newline50. This type of violence is found less among the illiterate / primary educated newlinespouses. It is found more among those who had love marriage, whereas it is newlinefound less among those who had married relatives. Frequency of drinking has newlinea significant independent role in physical violence. newline