Useful or useless: How has Internet and traditional media usage contributed to recent changes in men and women’s attitudes towards wife-beating in Nigeria?

In this study, we comparatively examined whether Internet and traditional media (newspaper, radio, television) usage contribute significantly to men and women’s rejection of intimate partner violence against women in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country. We borrowed and analysed quantitative, nationally representative, cross-sectional data from the recent 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey involving 13,311 men (aged 15-59 years) and 41,821 women (aged 15-49 years) using univariate, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models. In all, men were significantly more likely to use any kind of media (online or offline) and less likely to justify IPVAW, compared to the women. This gender gap seems to reflect the well-known gendered dimension of the digital divide. Irrespective of gender, all internet users were significantly less likely to justify a husband’s use of violence (women – aOR 55, CI 0.47-0.65, p<0.001; men – aOR 0.77, CI 0.66-0.89, p<0.001). The result for traditional media is mixed – while none of the traditional media sources were statistically significant in their associations with men’s IPVAW attitudes, women who used the radio were 22% significantly less likely to justify wife-beating (aOR 0.78, CI 0.70-0.86, p<0.001). By implication, the Internet looks promising for advancing ongoing campaigns against wife-beating norms in developing countries.