Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive global problem that violates the fundamental rights of millions of women each year and has been linked with a multitude of adverse physical, mental, and reproductive health outcomes. This dissertation explores the association of IPV with three important reproductive health measures: unintended pregnancy, unmet need for family planning, and current use of family planning. Grounded in an empowerment framework and informed by ecological models, these analyses include multiple measures of women's resources and agency at the individual and interpersonal level as well as at the community level. In the first manuscript (Chapter 4), a global systematic review of the literature was conducted, providing a total of 39 estimates for a meta-analysis of the associations of interest. The results provided strong evidence of a consistent and positive association between experiencing IPV and having an unintended pregnancy (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.55, 1.82; p<0.001), but provided very weak support that IPV affects a woman's odds of (non) use of family planning (OR 1.11, 95% CI 0.97, 1.25; p=0.121).

For the second manuscript (Chapter 5), logistic regression analyses were conducted on a sample of 3,444 ever married Jordanian women. Bivariate analyses indicated that a woman's level of empowerment is a significant predictor of her exposure to IPV and the outcomes of interest. Experience of IPV was associated with increased odds of unintended pregnancy in bivariate (OR 1.39, p=0.007) and multivariate analyses controlling for key sociodemographic and empowerment variables (OR 1.39, p=0.027). While tending to be positive, results were not significant at the 0.05 level in bivariate analyses for current use of FP (OR 1.47, p=0.064) or unmet need (OR 1.47, p=0.074). In multivariate analysis controlling for demographics and empowerment, recent IPV was significantly associated with increased odds of FP use (OR 136, p=0.049), but not with unmet need (OR 1.43, p=0.098). The third and final manuscript (Chapter 7) includes analyses from the same Jordanian dataset. Bivariate analyses indicated that the mean level of empowerment in a woman's community significantly predicts her exposure to IPV and the same reproductive health outcomes. Consistent with the research hypotheses, experience of IPV was associated with increased odds of unintended pregnancy in two-level models accounting for individual and community sociodemographic and empowerment variables (OR 1.46, p=0.011) and unmet need for family planning (OR 1.69, p=0.026). Contrary to the research hypothesis, a multilevel model controlling for individual and community-level demographics and empowerment, indicated that recent IPV may increase the odds of FP use (OR 1.31, p=0.101). This research provides insight into some of the mechanisms by which low levels of empowerment and violence affect Jordanians women's reproductive agency, and discusses the implications for research and programming to improve their health and wellbeing.