Determinants of wife-beating acceptance among reproductive age women in Ethiopia: a multilevel analysis of 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey

Abstract Background There is limited national representative evidence on determinants of women’s acceptance of wife-beating especially; community level factors are not investigated in Ethiopia. Thus, this study aimed to assess individual and community-level factors associated with acceptance of wife beating among reproductive age women in Ethiopia. Methods Secondary data analysis was done on 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data. A total of 15,683 weighted reproductive age group women were included in the analysis. Multi-level mixed-effect logistic regression analysis was done by Stata version 14.0 to identify individual and community-level factors. An adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was used to show the strength and direction of the association. Statistical significance was declared at p value less than 0.05 at the final model. Result Individual-level factors significantly associated with acceptance of wife-beating among women were; being Muslim follower [AOR = 1.3, 95% CI = (1.1, 1.5)], Being married [AOR = 1.3, 95% CI = (1.1, 1.6)], attending primary, secondary and higher education [AOR = 0.8, 95% CI = (0.7, 0.9)], [AOR = 0.4, 95% CI = (0.3, 0.5)], [AOR = 0.3, 95% CI (0.2, 0.4)] respectively. From community level factors, living in Somali [AOR = 0.2 95% CI = (0.1, 0.3)], Addis Ababa [AOR = 0.3, 95%CI = (0.2, 0.5)] and Dire Dawa [AOR = 0.5, 95% CI = (0.3, 0.7)] were 80%, 70% and 50% less likely accept wife-beating when compare to women who live in Tigray region, respectively. Live in high proportion of poor community [AOR = 1.2, 95% CI = (1.1, 1.3)], live in low proportion of television exposure communities [AOR = 1.4, 95% CI = (1.2, 2.2)] were significantly associated with acceptance of wife-beating among women in Ethiopia. Conclusion Educational status, religion, marital status, region, community-level wealth, and community level of television exposure had a statistical association with women’s acceptance of wife-beating. Improving educational coverage, community-level of media exposure, community-level wealth status and providing community-friendly interventions are important to reduce the acceptance of wife-beating among women in Ethiopia.