RESEARCH PAPERS

Exposure to domestic violence associated with adult smoking in India: a population based study

Leland K Ackerson, Ichiro Kawachi, Elizabeth M Barbeau and S V Subramanian

Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

Correspondence to:
S V Subramanian, Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, KRESGE 7th floor, Boston, MA 02115-6096, USA; svsubram{at}hsph.harvard.edu

Objective: To investigate the relation between domestic violence and tobacco use among adults in India.

Design: Multilevel cross sectional analyses of a nationally representative population based sample from the 1998–9 Indian national family health survey.

Participants: 278 977 individuals aged 15 or older; and 89 092 ever married women aged 15–49.

Main outcome: Dichotomous variables for smoking and chewing tobacco.

Results: Women who reported being abused more than one year ago and those who reported being abused in the past year were more likely to smoke and chew tobacco than women who have never experienced domestic violence. Compared to individuals who lived in homes where no abuse was reported, those who lived in homes where a woman reported experiencing domestic violence were more likely to smoke and chew tobacco.

Conclusion: Domestic violence is associated with higher odds of smoking and chewing tobacco in India. Efforts to control tobacco use need to consider the larger psychosocial circumstances within which individuals who practise such harmful health behaviours reside.

Abbreviations: DV, domestic violence; NFHS, National Family Health Survey

Keywords: smoking; tobacco; domestic violence; stress; India

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Ackerson, L. K., Subramanian, S. V. (2008). Domestic Violence and Chronic Malnutrition among Women and Children in India. Am J Epidemiol 167: 1188-1196 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

eLetters:

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Alcohol abuse - a major cause of DV is missing.

Dr. Urmila Jagadeesan Nair

Tobacco Control Online, 21 Dec 2007 [Full text]

Corrections

Leland K. Ackerson, et al.

Tobacco Control Online, 17 Jan 2008 [Full text]