Peer-reviewed article
Economic intimate partner violence and its co-occurrence with physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence among youth: Mixed-methods findings from Nairobi, Kenya.
Williams A, Aiura Y, Wood SN, Thiong'o M, Wamue-Ngare G et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined economic intimate partner violence (IPV) and how it overlaps with physical and sexual IPV among young women in Nairobi, Kenya. Researchers surveyed 591 partnered women and interviewed 15 women to understand the prevalence, patterns, and underlying causes of economic abuse. The study found that 35% experienced economic IPV, 28% experienced contact IPV (physical or sexual), and 19% experienced both types together. Women's economic dependency and earning status affected their risk of different types of abuse.
Key points
- Approximately 35% of young women reported economic IPV, 28% reported contact IPV, and 19% reported both forms simultaneously
- Economic dependency increased risk of economic IPV alone (2.49 times higher) but was not similarly associated with contact IPV
- Being the primary earner was protective against economic IPV when compared to no IPV, but was a risk factor for combined IPV when compared to economic IPV alone
- The economic IPV scale demonstrated strong measurement performance for assessing this form of abuse
- Qualitative findings revealed gendered contexts involving partner financial control as an underlying norm perpetuating economic abuse
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and limited to young partnered women in Nairobi, so findings cannot establish causality and may not generalise to other settings or age groups. The small qualitative sample (n=15) provides limited depth on the norms and contexts driving economic IPV.
Abstract
Partner economic abuse is an understudied form of intimate partner violence (IPV) that is increasingly considered to coincide with physical and/or sexual IPV (i.e., contact IPV), and can hinder help-seeking. This overlap is not well-understood, and measurement for economic IPV remains limited across global settings. This mixed methods study examines 1) measurement performance of an economic IPV scale; 2) prevalence of current economic IPV and contact IPV; 3) demographic and economic agency associations with groupings of IPV experience (mutually exclusive experience, co-experience, and none); and 4) underlying norms that perpetuate economic IPV via qualitative data. Cross-sectional analysis among young, partnered women in Nairobi (n = 591) drew from the 2023 data collection wave of an ongoing youth cohort. Exploratory factor analysis examined measurement performance of the economic IPV scale. Overlap between economic and contact IPV was explored. Multivariable multinomial regression examined associations of sociodemographic and economic agency measures with the groupings of IPV experience. Thematic analysis explored in-depth interview data (n = 15). The economic IPV scale had strong performance. Approximately 35% reported economic IPV, 28% reported contact IPV, and 19% reported both. Economic dependency was associated with increased risk of experiencing economic IPV by itself (RRR: 2.49 95%, CI: 1.15,5.40), and was not similarly associated with contact IPV. Being the primary earner was protective for economic IPV only as compared to no IPV; however, it was a risk factor for combined IPV as compared to economic IPV on its own (RRR: 6.01, 95% CI: 2.01,18.00). Qualitative findings describe a gendered context inclusive of partner financial control. Substantial co-occurrence of economic and contact IPV has implications for survivor financial barriers to help-seeking that cannot be ignored in service provision. Given identified differences in risk between IPV types, economic empowerment programming must apply nuanced attention to unique needs by IPV type.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Measurement and characterisation of economic IPV patterns and risk factors to inform service provision and economic empowerment programming
- Population
- Young partnered women in Nairobi, Kenya (n=591 for quantitative analysis, n=15 for qualitative)
Key finding
35% reported economic IPV, 28% reported contact IPV, 19% reported both forms
A et al. · Europe PMC · 28 Apr 2026