Experience of Violence and Socioeconomic Position in South Africa: A National Study

dc.contributor.authorDoolan, Katherineen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorEhrlich, Rodneyen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMyer, Landonen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-09T13:22:38Z
dc.date.available2015-11-09T13:22:38Z
dc.date.issued2007en_ZA
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: Violence is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in South Africa and needs to be researched from a public health perspective. Typically in violence research, socioeconomic position is used in the analysis to control for confounding. Social epidemiology approaches this variable as a primary determinant of interest and is used in this research to better understand the aetiology of violence in South Africa. We hypothesised that measures of socioeconomic position (employment, education and household wealth) would be inversely related to violence at the individual and household levels. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Data came from the1998 South African Demographic and Health Survey (SADHS). Measures of socioeconomic position used were employment, education and household wealth. Eighty-eight people (0.2%) received treatment for a violent injury in the previous 30 days and 103 households (0.9%) experienced a violent death in the previous year. Risk factors for violence at the individual level included employment (41% of those who experienced violence were employed vs. 27% of those who did not, p = 0.02), and education (those who experienced violence had on average, one year more education than those who did not, p = 0.04). Belonging to a household in the wealthiest quintile was protective against violence (OR: 0.32; 95% CI: 0.12-0.89). In contrast, at the household level all three measures of socioeconomic position were protective against the experience of a violent death. The only association to persist in the multivariate analysis was that between the wealth of the household and violence at the individual level. Conclusions/Significance Our hypothesis was supported if household wealth was used as the measure of socioeconomic position at the individual level. While more research is needed to inform the conflicting results observed between the individual and household levels, this analysis has begun to identify the disparities across the socioeconomic structure with respect to violent outcomes.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationDoolan, K., Ehrlich, R., & Myer, L. (2007). Experience of Violence and Socioeconomic Position in South Africa: A National Study. <i>PLoS One</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14791en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationDoolan, Katherine, Rodney Ehrlich, and Landon Myer "Experience of Violence and Socioeconomic Position in South Africa: A National Study." <i>PLoS One</i> (2007) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14791en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationDoolan, K., Ehrlich, R., & Myer, L. (2007). Experience of violence and socioeconomic position in South Africa: a national study. Plos One, 2(12), e1290. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001290en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Doolan, Katherine AU - Ehrlich, Rodney AU - Myer, Landon AB - BACKGROUND: Violence is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in South Africa and needs to be researched from a public health perspective. Typically in violence research, socioeconomic position is used in the analysis to control for confounding. Social epidemiology approaches this variable as a primary determinant of interest and is used in this research to better understand the aetiology of violence in South Africa. We hypothesised that measures of socioeconomic position (employment, education and household wealth) would be inversely related to violence at the individual and household levels. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Data came from the1998 South African Demographic and Health Survey (SADHS). Measures of socioeconomic position used were employment, education and household wealth. Eighty-eight people (0.2%) received treatment for a violent injury in the previous 30 days and 103 households (0.9%) experienced a violent death in the previous year. Risk factors for violence at the individual level included employment (41% of those who experienced violence were employed vs. 27% of those who did not, p = 0.02), and education (those who experienced violence had on average, one year more education than those who did not, p = 0.04). Belonging to a household in the wealthiest quintile was protective against violence (OR: 0.32; 95% CI: 0.12-0.89). In contrast, at the household level all three measures of socioeconomic position were protective against the experience of a violent death. The only association to persist in the multivariate analysis was that between the wealth of the household and violence at the individual level. Conclusions/Significance Our hypothesis was supported if household wealth was used as the measure of socioeconomic position at the individual level. While more research is needed to inform the conflicting results observed between the individual and household levels, this analysis has begun to identify the disparities across the socioeconomic structure with respect to violent outcomes. DA - 2007 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0001290 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - PLoS One LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2007 T1 - Experience of Violence and Socioeconomic Position in South Africa: A National Study TI - Experience of Violence and Socioeconomic Position in South Africa: A National Study UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14791 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14791
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001290
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationDoolan K, Ehrlich R, Myer L. Experience of Violence and Socioeconomic Position in South Africa: A National Study. PLoS One. 2007; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14791.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Public Health and Family Medicineen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en_ZA
dc.rights.holder© 2007 Doolan et alen_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0en_ZA
dc.sourcePLoS Oneen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://journals.plos.org/plosoneen_ZA
dc.subject.otherViolent crimeen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSocioeconomic aspects of healthen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSouth Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherDemographyen_ZA
dc.subject.otherEmploymenten_ZA
dc.subject.otherSocial researchen_ZA
dc.subject.otherPublic and occupational healthen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSocial epidemiologyen_ZA
dc.titleExperience of Violence and Socioeconomic Position in South Africa: A National Studyen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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