Effects of Domestic Violence on Academic Achievement among University Students in Selangor, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

@#Introduction: Domestic violence is a serious issue that has often been overlooked by the society. It includes any physical, emotional or sexual violence that occurs between family members. Year after year, many cases of domestic violence have been reported in news and the numbers keep increasing from time to time. Experiencing this violence may give negative impacts on the victim. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of domestic violence among university students in Selangor, Malaysia and to discover its effects on their academic achievement. Methods: A cross-sectional study was implemented in a form of questionnaire that was distributed to 368 university students at Selangor, Malaysia in the period from June 2018 to December 2018. Results: Results showed that 69 respondents (18.7%) had experienced DV throughout their life; all of them suffered physical violence, 95.7% had suffered emotional violence while 14.5% had suffered sexual violence. Age, gender, residence, family income, institution’s type and speciality of study has no significant association with DV while, race, religion and parents’ status were significantly associated with DV. Also it was noticed that out of these 69 respondents that had experience of domestic violence, 36 of them were studying in private universities and 33 of them were studying in public universities. Most of those experienced domestic violence showed low CGPA. Conclusion: It is concluded that there is low prevalence of DV among university students in Selangor. Experiencing DV during childhood has an impact on the academic achievement of the victim in the future university life.