Child marriage and justification of intimate partner violence among Somali women: a national analysis of the 2020 Somali health and demographic survey

Background Child marriage and attitudes that justify intimate partner violence remain important public health concerns. Whether women's experience of child marriage is independently associated with justification of wife-beating in Somalia is unclear. Methods We conducted a secondary cross-sectional analysis of 2020 Somali Health and Demographic Survey data for 7,341 ever-married women aged 20–49 years with complete information on age at first marriage and seven wife-beating justification items. Child marriage was defined as first marriage before age 18 years. The outcome was justification of wife-beating for at least one specified reason. We estimated weighted prevalence and used survey-weighted Poisson regression with robust standard errors to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs), adjusting for region, residence, wealth quintile, education, and current age. Results Overall, 56.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 53.5–59.9] of women justified wife-beating for at least one reason. Justification was more common among women married before age 18 than among those married at age 18 or older (59.0% vs. 55.0%; crude PR: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.00–1.15). However, child marriage was not independently associated with justification after adjustment [adjusted PR (APR): 1.01, 95% CI: 0.95–1.08; p > 0.05; adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.02, 95% CI: 0.87–1.21]. Regional variation was pronounced: compared with Banadir, the adjusted prevalence was highest in Hiraan (APR: 1.91, 95% CI: 1.57–2.31), Bay (APR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.56–2.19) and Bakool (APR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.55–2.17). Conclusion Women's history of child marriage was not independently associated with justification of wife-beating after accounting for demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic factors in cross-sectional models. These findings concern attitudes only and do not address the risk of experiencing IPV. Prevention efforts should address regional and community contexts that shape acceptance of intimate partner violence.