In Sri Lanka, intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a major concern, particularly for married women. Women’s education and empowerment are significant contributors to IPV. Despite this, there have been no recent studies exploring the complex relationship between education and multidimensions of empowerment in relation to IPV in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this research addresses this gap by exploring the complex pathways connecting married women’s education and multidimensional empowerment to IPV. Using data from the 2019 Sri Lankan Women’s Wellbeing Survey, this study included 1,165 married women. A path analysis based on structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the complex interplay between distinct empowerment domains and IPV. The SEM results revealed both direct and indirect effects of women’s education and empowerment on IPV experiences. Education is positively linked to age at marriage, employment status, and husbands’ educational level, while inversely associated with accepting attitudes toward violence. Age at marriage plays a major role as a mediator, mediating the relationship between women’s education and their involvement in decision-making, and the relationship between husbands’ education and women’s IPV experience. Moreover, the relationship between women’s age at marriage and their IPV experiences was fully mediated by their decision-making ability, highlighting the importance of empowerment in decision-making. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions that address the interconnected factors affecting IPV risk among married women in Sri Lanka, particularly focusing on education, empowerment, and marriage timing.

中文翻译：

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调查斯里兰卡已婚妇女中妇女教育状况和赋权与亲密伴侣暴力之间的联系：结构方程建模方法


在斯里兰卡，亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）仍然是一个主要问题，特别是对于已婚妇女而言。妇女教育和赋权是 IPV 的重要贡献者。尽管如此，最近还没有研究探讨斯里兰卡教育与 IPV 相关赋权的多维度之间的复杂关系。因此，本研究通过探索将已婚妇女教育和多维赋权与 IPV 连接起来的复杂途径来解决这一差距。这项研究使用 2019 年斯里兰卡妇女福祉调查的数据，纳入了 1,165 名已婚妇女。基于结构方程模型 (SEM) 的路径分析用于检查不同赋权领域和 IPV 之间的复杂相互作用。 SEM 结果揭示了妇女教育和赋权对 IPV 经历的直接和间接影响。教育程度与结婚年龄、就业状况和丈夫的教育水平呈正相关，而与接受暴力的态度呈负相关。结婚年龄在女性受教育程度与其参与决策之间的关系、以及丈夫受教育程度与女性IPV经历之间的关系中发挥着重要的中介作用。此外，女性结婚年龄与其IPV经历之间的关系完全由她们的决策能力调节，凸显了决策中赋权的重要性。这些发现强调需要采取有针对性的干预措施，解决影响斯里兰卡已婚妇女 IPV 风险的相互关联因素，特别是关注教育、赋权和结婚时机。