this study was a part of the main study which aimed for intervention to increase the contraceptive use among women with unmet need for contraception during 2012 - 2015 . the eligibility criteria for the main study included currently married women aged 18 - 39 yr , staying with their husbands ; having at least one child and having unmet need for contraceptives . a community based household survey was conducted in two similar slum communities namely kajupada and tunga villages under the jurisdiction of the health post of municipal corporation of greater mumbai ( mcgm ) , mumbai . the population of reproductive age group women was approximately 9000 to 11806 in kajupada and tunga villages , respectively . the prevalence of women experiencing domestic violence was reported as 27 per cent1 . in order to estimate this prevalence with the precision of 5 per cent ( marginal error ) with 95% confidence interval ( ci ) , and adjusting for 20 per cent non- response rate and 1.5 as design effect each community was divided into four equal clusters on the basis of equal number of households . from each cluster first household was selected randomly and then every 6 household was visited to screen for the eligible women through a rapid assessment survey questionnaire which included information on age , number of children , future pregnancy intention , and current use of contraceptive methods . following this detailed information on socio - demographic- economic characteristics , reproductive characteristics and violence experienced by women from their husbands was collected by face - to - face interview using pretested structured questionnaire after obtaining informed consent during september 2012 to june 2013 . the questions measuring domestic violence are based on the national family health survey-32 , which measured violence by husband , using a greatly shortened and modified conflict tactics scale ( cts)27 . proposal and measures used in the study were reviewed and approved by the institutional review board of the national institute for research in reproductive health ( nirrh ) , mumbai , maharashtra , india . dependent variable - women ever experiencing violence from their husband was considered as dependent variable . to measure the violence from husband , women were asked questions related to physical , emotional and sexual violence as listed in table i. a  yes  response to one or more of the above item(s ) was considered as ever experience of violence by husband . percentage of currently married women having unmet need of contraceptives ever experienced various form of violence by their husband in urban slums , mumbai independent variables - information regarding socio - demographic , economic and reproductive characteristics was considered as independent variables . variables under study were current age of women ( < 25 , > 25 yr ) , religion ( hindu , others ) , caste [ scheduled caste ( sc)/scheduled tribe ( st ) ] , other backward classes ( obc ) , general , age at marriage ( < 18 , 18 yr ) , duration of marriage ( < 5 , > 5 yr ) , women 's education ( illiterate , literate ) , number of surviving children ( 1 , 2 or more ) , currently working ( yes , no ) , and husband 's use of alcohol ( yes , no ) . further , if women responded positive to any of these items which measured justification of wife beating , viz . , goes without telling husband , neglects the house or children , argues with husband , refuse to have sex with him , does not cook properly , husband suspects her being unfaithful , was considered to be positive towards  justified wife beating. statistical analysis : the association between socio demographic characteristics of women and domestic violence were explored using chi - square test . generalized liner model ( glm ) with log link function was used to calculate the adjusted relative risk instead of multiple logistic regression28 . the analysis was carried out using stata software ( stata 8.2 , stata corp , usa ) . the adjusted risk ratios ( rr ) with 95% ci for significant variables were calculated . dependent variable - women ever experiencing violence from their husband was considered as dependent variable . to measure the violence from husband , women were asked questions related to physical , emotional and sexual violence as listed in table i. a  yes  response to one or more of the above item(s ) was considered as ever experience of violence by husband . percentage of currently married women having unmet need of contraceptives ever experienced various form of violence by their husband in urban slums , mumbai independent variables - information regarding socio - demographic , economic and reproductive characteristics was considered as independent variables . variables under study were current age of women ( < 25 , > 25 yr ) , religion ( hindu , others ) , caste [ scheduled caste ( sc)/scheduled tribe ( st ) ] , other backward classes ( obc ) , general , age at marriage ( < 18 , 18 yr ) , duration of marriage ( < 5 , > 5 yr ) , women 's education ( illiterate , literate ) , number of surviving children ( 1 , 2 or more ) , currently working ( yes , no ) , and husband 's use of alcohol ( yes , no ) . further , if women responded positive to any of these items which measured justification of wife beating , viz . , goes without telling husband , neglects the house or children , argues with husband , refuse to have sex with him , does not cook properly , husband suspects her being unfaithful , was considered to be positive towards  justified wife beating. statistical analysis : the association between socio demographic characteristics of women and domestic violence were explored using chi - square test . generalized liner model ( glm ) with log link function was used to calculate the adjusted relative risk instead of multiple logistic regression28 . the analysis was carried out using stata software ( stata 8.2 , stata corp , usa ) . the adjusted risk ratios ( rr ) with 95% ci for significant variables were calculated . dependent variable - women ever experiencing violence from their husband was considered as dependent variable . to measure the violence from husband , women were asked questions related to physical , emotional and sexual violence as listed in table i. a  yes  response to one or more of the above item(s ) was considered as ever experience of violence by husband . percentage of currently married women having unmet need of contraceptives ever experienced various form of violence by their husband in urban slums , mumbai independent variables - information regarding socio - demographic , economic and reproductive characteristics was considered as independent variables . variables under study were current age of women ( < 25 , > 25 yr ) , religion ( hindu , others ) , caste [ scheduled caste ( sc)/scheduled tribe ( st ) ] , other backward classes ( obc ) , general , age at marriage ( < 18 , 18 yr ) , duration of marriage ( < 5 , > 5 yr ) , women 's education ( illiterate , literate ) , number of surviving children ( 1 , 2 or more ) , currently working ( yes , no ) , and husband 's use of alcohol ( yes , no ) . further , if women responded positive to any of these items which measured justification of wife beating , viz . , goes without telling husband , neglects the house or children , argues with husband , refuse to have sex with him , does not cook properly , husband suspects her being unfaithful , was considered to be positive towards  justified wife beating. statistical analysis : the association between socio demographic characteristics of women and domestic violence were explored using chi - square test . generalized liner model ( glm ) with log link function was used to calculate the adjusted relative risk instead of multiple logistic regression28 . the analysis was carried out using stata software ( stata 8.2 , stata corp , usa ) . the adjusted risk ratios ( rr ) with 95% ci for significant variables were calculated . prevalence of domestic violence among women having unmet need for family planning : percentage of currently married women who have ever experienced various forms of violence by their husbands is presented in table i. it was observed that 21.2 per cent [ 95% ci : 18.8 - 23.6 ] of women ever experienced any type of violence viz . physical ( 16.8% ) , emotional ( 12.4% ) , or sexual violence ( 4.8% ) . most common act of violence observed was being slapped ( 16.7% ) followed by humiliated in front of others ( 11.3% ) . a small percentage of women ( 1.9% ) expressed that their husbands forced them to perform any sexual acts though they did not want to do . socio - demographic factors associated with domestic violence : the socio - demographic , economic and reproductive factors associated with domestic violence are presented in table ii . women who got married before attaining 18 yr of age ( 26.8% ) were significantly more likely to report prevalence of violence than women who got married after attaining 18 yr of age ( 18.2% ) . the prevalence of violence was higher among illiterate women though it was not statistically significant . for women whose marital duration was less than or equal to five years significantly higher prevalence of domestic violence was observed for women belonging to sc / st , working , having more than one child and who justified wife beating . about 21 percentage point difference in prevalence of domestic violence was observed among women whose husbands consumed alcohol as against who did not . percentage of women having unmet need of contraceptives ever experienced violence by their husbands in urban slums , mumbai table iii summarizes the findings of multiple logistic regression analysis . after controlling for all independent variables ( listed in table ii ) , age at marriage , number of children , working status , justified wife beating and husband consuming alcohol women who married early ( < 18 yr ) were 37 per cent [ rr=1.37 ( 95% ci : 1.01 - 1.89 ) ] more likely to experience domestic violence than women who married lately ( 18 yr ) . working women were 1.61 ( 95% ci : 1.07 - 2.41 ) times at risk to have experienced violence than non - working women . higher risk of domestic violence was reported for women whose husbands consumed alcohol ( rr : 2.17 , 95% ci : 1.58 - 2.98 ) than women whose husbands did not consume alcohol . women who justified wife beating were 2.00 ( 95% ci : 1.35 - 2.96 ) times more at risk of violence than women who did not justify wife beating . adjusted risk ratio of ever experienced violence in urban slums , mumbai in the present study , a community based representative sample of 1137 currently married women aged 18 - 39 yr having at least one child and not using any family planning methods revealed that 21.2 per cent women ever experienced any form of violence from their husbands . however , a community - based cross - sectional study among 274 married women in the age group of 18 - 45 yr residing in an urban slum area of malwani , mumbai , showed 36.9 per cent prevalence of verbal or physical violence in the past one year29 . a cross - sectional study conducted in slum area among married women of age 18 - 49 yr showed prevalence of physical violence in the past three months as 26.6 per cent in goa24 , ever experienced any violence ( physical , sexual and emotional ) as 45.2 per cent in pune3 and ever experienced physical or verbal violence as 54 per cent in kolkata23 . further , a study conducted in slum areas of bengaluru among 744 married women aged 16 - 25 yr reported 56 per cent physical violence in the past six months30 . it was observed that the prevalence of violence varied from place to place in india . the explanation could be the difference in the distribution factors in the populations studied such as age , issues in the definition and measurement of partner violence , and willingness to report their experience of violence . early marriage was associated with domestic violence from husbands and was consistent with the finding from other studies313233 . the present study also showed that women who got married before attaining 18 yr of age were more likely to be victimized . the domestic violence also decreased a woman 's ability to negotiate the timing of sex or use of contraceptive methods with their partners9 . husband 's consumption of alcohol was found to be a significant factor associated with violence . evidence from other studies supported husbands / partners alcohol consumption as a significant factor of domestic violence22232433 and might be because of reduced self - control of individuals due to excessive alcohol consumption34 . working women were more likely to experience violence than women who were not working as reported earlier35 . this may be because of intergenerational transmission of perception related to violence36 , i.e. when children grow up seeing their father abusing their mother ; they start to accept or justify such behaviour as norm and replicate it in their marital life . women who experience violence ( in childhood , adolescence , or adulthood ) may learn and/or rationalize that it is normal , or women who think that violence is acceptable may enter into or remain in relationships with an abusive partner . first , the data collected on ever experience of domestic violence were self- reported by respondents and , therefore , subject to recall bias , cultural values and willingness to report domestic violence . secondly , it was a cross - sectional study so it was not possible to establish causal relationship between the socio - demographic factors studied and domestic violence . further , the findings may not represent the whole slum communities of all women of reproductive age group . in conclusion factors like early marriage , justified wife beating and husbands drinking alcohol habit were significantly associated with the domestic violence . there is a need to bring change in behaviour regarding the same in the community .
background & objectives : domestic violence is identified as a public heath problem . 
 it is associated with adverse maternal health . 
 this study examined the prevalence and determinants of domestic violence among women in urban slums of mumbai , india.methods:a community based cross - sectional household survey was carried out among eligible women for the study during september 2012 to january 2013 . 
 a total of 1137 currently married women aged 18 - 39 yr with unmet need for family planning and having at least one child were selected using cluster systematic random sampling from two urban slums . 
 information on socio - demographic , reproductive and domestic violence was collected through face - to - face interview using a pretested structured questionnaire after obtaining informed written consent . 
 bivariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to find the socio - demographic factors associated with ever experienced domestic violence among women.results:the prevalence of women ever experiencing domestic violence in the community was 21.2 per cent . 
 women whose husband consumed alcohol [ rr : 2.17 , ( 95% ci : 1.58 - 2.98 ) ] were significantly at an increased risk of ever experiencing domestic violence than their counterparts . 
 risk of domestic violence was twice [ rr : 2.00 , ( 95% ci : 1.35 - 2.96 ) ] for women who justified wife beating than women who did not justify wife beating.interpretation & conclusions : the findings showed that domestic violence was prevalent in urban slums . 
 factors like early marriage , working status , justified wife beating and husbands use of alcohol were significantly associated with domestic violence .