Agreement between Husband and Wife Reports of Domestic Violence: Evidence from Poor Refugee Communities in Lebanon

Marwan Khawaja, American University of Beirut
Mylene Salem, American University of Beirut

This study examines agreements between husbands and wives on self-reports of domestic violence in poor refugee communities in Lebanon, using unique household survey data collected in 1999. Four outcomes (“Ever beaten”, “last year beating”, “beating during pregnancy” and “injuries caused by beating”) were analyzed using Kappa statistics and percent agreement and data on 417 matched couples. Findings show good agreement for the different outcomes, implying that the perpetrators (men) can be ‘trusted’ in providing basic information on “beating histories”. However, findings from a multivariate logistic regression model on agreement regarding ‘last year beating’ show that only age of men was a significant predictor of agreement, controlling for education level, marital duration, region of residence, household size, health status and consanguinity.