Spiritual Abuse in Ghana: A Neglected Dimension of Intimate Partner Abuse in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Anecdotal evidence suggests spiritual/religious abuse is rife globally, but more so in Ghana, where spiritual and religious practices are commonplace. Yet little scholarly work explores spiritual abuse and its relationship with other documented types of abuse. We used data collected from 1702 ever-married Ghanaian women to explore the various dimensions of spiritual abuse and examined its relationship with physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse. Findings from our confirmatory factor modeling delineated two main dimensions of spiritual abuse: spiritual coercion and spiritual control. Results suggested these types of abuse are prevalent among Ghanaian women; approximately 55% of the sampled women experienced spiritual coercion, and 41% reported spiritual control. Moreover, spiritual abuse measured using coercion and control was a significant predictor and outcome of physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse. Although spiritual abuse was associated with the other types of abuse, findings also pointed to its independent effects.