Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Purpose Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a critical public health crisis in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), yet the role of educational assortative mating (EAM) - the relative educational pairing of partners within marriage - as a structural determinant of IPV has not been examined across the region. This study investigates IPV and its association with EAM, the association between EAM and IPV among partnered women in SSA, from the perspectives of the male backlash and gender and power theories. Methods Pooled Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 26 SSA countries were analyzed using two-level multilevel logistic regression with women nested within countries (n = 119,262). Three EAM configurations were examined: homogamy, hypergamy (reference), and hypogamy, alongside individual, household, and country-level covariates, including the Global Gender Gap Index, GDP per capita, and domestic violence legislation. Results Hypergamy was the most prevalent EAM pattern (42.1%), followed by homogamy (36.8%) and hypogamy (21.1%). 36.3% of women have experienced at least one form of IPV, ranging from 22.1% to 60.5% across countries. Compared to hypergamous women, homogamous women had significantly lower odds of physical (aOR = 0.89), emotional (aOR = 0.92), and any form of IPV (aOR = 0.91). Hypogamous women had significantly higher odds of sexual (aOR = 1.12), emotional (aOR = 1.08), and any form of IPV (aOR = 1.04). Partner alcohol use was the strongest individual-level predictor across all outcomes. Conclusions The findings provide mixed but theoretically coherent support for gender and power and male backlash theories. Homogamy is broadly protective against IPV, while hypogamy is associated with elevated IPV risk across multiple outcomes, consistent with male backlash responses to perceived status threats in patriarchal contexts. EAM emerged as a meaningful couple-level structural determinant of IPV that individual measures of educational attainment cannot capture. Efforts to advance female education in SSA should be accompanied by programmes that simultaneously transform male gender attitudes.</p>