Economic intimate partner violence and its co-occurrence with physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence among youth: Mixed-methods findings from Nairobi, Kenya

PLOS Glob Public Health. 2026 Apr 28;6(4):e0006351. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0006351. eCollection 2026.

ABSTRACT

Partner economic abuse is an understudied form of intimate partner violence (IPV) that is increasingly considered to coincide with physical and/or sexual IPV (i.e., contact IPV), and can hinder help-seeking. This overlap is not well-understood, and measurement for economic IPV remains limited across global settings. This mixed methods study examines 1) measurement performance of an economic IPV scale; 2) prevalence of current economic IPV and contact IPV; 3) demographic and economic agency associations with groupings of IPV experience (mutually exclusive experience, co-experience, and none); and 4) underlying norms that perpetuate economic IPV via qualitative data. Cross-sectional analysis among young, partnered women in Nairobi (n = 591) drew from the 2023 data collection wave of an ongoing youth cohort. Exploratory factor analysis examined measurement performance of the economic IPV scale. Overlap between economic and contact IPV was explored. Multivariable multinomial regression examined associations of sociodemographic and economic agency measures with the groupings of IPV experience. Thematic analysis explored in-depth interview data (n = 15). The economic IPV scale had strong performance. Approximately 35% reported economic IPV, 28% reported contact IPV, and 19% reported both. Economic dependency was associated with increased risk of experiencing economic IPV by itself (RRR: 2.49 95%, CI: 1.15,5.40), and was not similarly associated with contact IPV. Being the primary earner was protective for economic IPV only as compared to no IPV; however, it was a risk factor for combined IPV as compared to economic IPV on its own (RRR: 6.01, 95% CI: 2.01,18.00). Qualitative findings describe a gendered context inclusive of partner financial control. Substantial co-occurrence of economic and contact IPV has implications for survivor financial barriers to help-seeking that cannot be ignored in service provision. Given identified differences in risk between IPV types, economic empowerment programming must apply nuanced attention to unique needs by IPV type.

PMID:42048379 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pgph.0006351