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Magnitude and risk factors of violence against adolescents: Evidence from UDAYA study in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

Jayanta Bora, VART Consulting
Nandita Saikia, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Background: Violence against adolescent aged 10-19 has adverse short-term and long-term impact. This study aimed to investigate the magnitude of violence against adolescents in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It also identified the risk factors of violence against adolescents.Date and Method: We used UDAYA data with a sample of 10,141 in Uttar Pradesh and 10,433 adolescents in Bihar in 2015-2016. Violence against adolescents was defined as Physical hurt by parents or by husbands and Emotional Violence by husbands to the married girls. We used univariate, bivariate, and logistic regression analyses in this study. Findings: An estimated 38.9% of the adolescents reported lifetime physical violence by parents whereas 29.4% and 37% of the married girls adolescents reported emotional and physical violence by their husbands. The likelihood of exposure to any type of violence is higher among adolescents with no education, low maternal education, of poorest wealth quintile, and from deprived castes. Exposure to violence was positively associated with respondent's and their parents' substance use status. Emotional and physical violence is substantially higher in Bihar compared to Uttar Pradesh. Conclusion: Adolescents with deprived backgrounds carry double the burden of violence exposure. Any intervention to minimize violence should include both adolescents and their parents.

Keywords: Longitudinal studies, Children and youth, Inequality, Policy

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  Presented in Session 25. Challenges Facing the Young in India