ORIGINAL ARTICLE Men’ s Coercive Control, Partner Violence Perpetration, and Life Satisfaction in Bangladesh Kathryn M. Yount 1 & Stephanie S. Miedema 2 & Chris C. Martin 2 & AliceAnn Crandall 3 & Ruchira T. Naved 4 Published online: 4 February 2016 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract In patriarchal settings like Bangladesh, men’ s use of coercive control to sustain male dominance may increase their life satisfaction if such behavior is widely accepted and internalized. Yet, the influence of men’ s perpetration of inti- mate partner violence (IPV) on their life satisfaction is un- known. We assess the associations of controlling behavior and IPV perpetration with life satisfaction using data from the Bangladesh component of the UN Multi-country Study on Men and Violence. This survey was conducted from January to June, 2011 in a multistage, random sample of men from urban Dhaka and rural Matlab sub-district of Chandpur district. Analyses included ever-partnered men (N = 1,572). In unadjusted structural equation models, men who reported controlling behavior had higher average life satisfaction; whereas, those reporting psychological IPV per- petration had lower life satisfaction. Adjusting for covariates, men’ s controlling behavior remained positively associated with their life satisfaction, while psychological and physical IPV perpetration were negatively associated with life satisfac- tion. In Bangladesh, men’ s controlling behavior may be so central to normative masculinity that it is internalized, and its instrumental success enhances men’ s life satisfaction. Yet, the adverse influence of IPV perpetration on life satisfaction supports social-psychological theories of self-determination, whereby behaviors that are normative but not internalized undermine men’ s psychological needs, contributing to lower life satisfaction. In settings like Bangladesh, integrated theo- ries of masculinity under patriarchy and self-determination may be needed to understand men’ s coercive control, IPV perpetration, and well-being. Keywords Bangladesh . Controlling behavior . Intimate partner violence . Life satisfaction . Masculinity . Patriarchy . Self-determination Coercive control is a multi-dimensional and repetitive process of demands that ends in a victim’ s compliance because the victim expects penalties for noncompliance and rewards for compliance (Dutton and Goodman 2005). In patriarchal set- tings, where women exchange obedience for economic secu- rity (Kandiyoti 1988), a husband’ s use of coercive control may be construed as central to normative masculinity (Franchina et al. 2001; Reidy et al. 2014). In such contexts, men may internalize coercive control as a legitimate expression of their masculinity (Bergman 1991). The successful use of coercive control to sustain male dominance in intimate partnerships may enhance men’ s life satisfaction, and drive men’ s perpe- tration of intimate partner violence (IPV). Men’ s use of IPV—a form of interpersonal violence related to coercive control—also is common in patriarchal settings. Across six countries in Asia and the Pacific, between 26 and 80 % of men 18–49 years-old have reported any lifetime per- petration of physical or sexual IPV (Fulu et al. 2013). Men’ s controlling behavior signals gendered power in the relation- ship (Dutton and Goodman 2005 ) and predicts their * Kathryn M. Yount kathryn.yount@emory.edu 1 Hubert Department of Global Health and Department of Sociology, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road, NE., Atlanta, GA 30322, USA 2 Department of Sociology, Emory University, 225 Tarbutton Hall, 1555 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA 3 Department of Health Science, Brigham Young University, 2049 Life Science Building (LSB), Provo, UT 84602, USA 4 Center for Equity and Health Systems, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), 68, Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani, Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh Sex Roles (2016) 74:450–463 DOI 10.1007/s11199-016-0584-3