A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF SOME MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECTS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST MARRIED WOMEN ARRIVED AT MENOUFIA UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Violence is defined as the behaviours of frightening, threatening, or annoying that are used to impose one's power on others. Violence against women is prevalent all over the world especially the developing countries. It is one of the main causes of morbidity between women.  The aim of the present study is to evaluate the magnitude of the problem of violence against Egyptian married women and factors affecting it and to identify the risk factors of the repeated violence against them by their husbands. The study was conducted on 311 married women and we found that violence against women was more significantly related to women aged 21-30 years, women who read and write, housewives, women who lives in rural area; the social problems were the main cause of violence and physical injuries were higher than sexual, blunt agents were the most commonly used ones. As regards to the assailant, non-husband assailants were the most common, and age 21-30 was the commonest age. Outdoor violence was more common than indoor one. The total number of women exposed to violence from their husbands was 94 that represented 30.2 % of total women exposed to violence. 72 (76.6%) of them exposed to violence repeatedly. There was a statistically significant difference between women education (read & write), husband age (21-30 years), husband occupation (not working), husband special habits, duration of marriage (< 5 years), number of children (>3 kids) and the frequency of husband violence (once and repeated).Low level of female education and husbands have special habits are the most dependent factors increase the frequency of husband violence against their wives.