Fear of intimate partner and women’s engagement in exercise: insights from a national survey in Kenya

Background: Women in abusive or controlling relationships often experience restrictions on their autonomy, mobility, and decision-making capacity. Furthermore, fear of a husband or partner, whether stemming from psychological abuse, coercive control, or physical violence, may influence a woman’s ability to engage in health-promoting activities like exercise. However, the relationship between fear in intimate relationships and excercise remains underexplored. We examined whether there was an association between relational fear and women’s engagement in exercise, as well as the direction of this association. 

Methods: We analyzed the data of 5,052 women (15–49 years) who participated in the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. We derived the outcome variable from the question: “how many days per week do you exercise?” The responses were recoded as ‘0 = do not exercise’ and ‘1/7 days = exercises’. All estimates were weighted. Cross-tabulations and two sets of binary logistic regression models were computed in STATA version 18. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. 

Results: Most women exercised three or more days per week (59.6%) while 22.9% did not exercise at all. Women who were most of the time afraid of their partner had a 47% higher likelihood of engaging in exercise compared to those who were never afraid (COR = 1.47, 95%CI: 1.16–1.88). After adjusting for confounders, this association weakened but remained significant (AOR = 1.33, 95%CI: 1.03–1.71). Similarly, women who were sometimes afraid of their partner showed significantly higher odds of engaging in exercise in both crude (COR = 1.30, 95%CI: 1.11–1.53) and adjusted models (AOR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.04–1.46). Increasing age, higher education levels, rural residency and media exposure were strongly associated with increased exercise engagement. 

Conclusion: This study reveals a positive association between fear in intimate relationships and women’s engagement in exercise, suggesting that exercise may serve as a coping mechanism for some women experiencing relational fear. While these results contribute to the limited literature on the intersection of intimate partner dynamics and preventive health behaviors, they remain preliminary. Further research is needed to explore the causal pathways, contextual influences, and potential long-term implications of relational fear on exercise engagement.