Physical violence against women: evaluation of women assaulted by spouses.

Objective: To investigate the characteristic of physical violence against women sent to the Forensic Medicine Council for the forensic reports with a history of being assaulted by their spouses.

Methods: One hundred and thirty five women attending judicial institutions from August 1st 2000 to January 31st 2001 were interviewed. The demographic characteristics of assaulted women and their spouses, time of violence, beginning and continuation of violence after marriage, frequency of violence, women's judgment of the reason for being assaulted, violence against children by the husbands, history of violence in the husbands' family, the husbands' manner at home, women' attitudes against violence, existence and type of physical trauma and injury severity according to Turkish Penalty Law were evaluated.