Journal of interpersonal violence
-
J Interpers Violence · Dec 2017
Out in the Open: The Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence for Victims in Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Relationships.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health problem in the United States. While our understanding of this form of violence has grown substantially over the past several decades, the majority of research involving victims of IPV has focused almost exclusively on female heterosexual victims. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to how this form of violence affects specific populations, such as gay and lesbian victims. ⋯ Results indicate that opposite-sex victims experienced more depressive symptoms, alcohol problems, and marijuana use than non-victims and engaged in higher levels of violent and property delinquency than non-victims. IPV within the context of same-sex relationships led to more depressive symptoms and greater involvement in violent delinquency, with the impact of IPV on violent delinquency being greater for victims of same-sex IPV compared with opposite-sex IPV. The implications of this study could inform interventions for victims of same-sex IPV and lead to more comprehensive services to address the needs of gay and lesbian victims of this violence.
-
J Interpers Violence · Jun 2017
Sexual Harassment in the European Union: A Pervasive but Still Hidden Form of Gender-Based Violence.
Sexual harassment is recognized as discrimination on the grounds of sex and as a breach of the principle of equal treatment between men and women. The survey of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) on violence against women shows, however, that sexual harassment remains a pervasive and common experience for many women in the European Union. Dependent on the type of incident recorded, an estimated 83 to 102 million women (45%-55% of women) in the 28 EU Member States have experienced at least one form of sexual harassment since the age of 15. ⋯ The survey shows that sexual harassment disproportionately affects younger women, and that it is more commonly perceived and experienced by women with a university degree and women in the highest occupational groups. The article outlines key findings from the FRA Violence Against Women Survey with regard to the extent, forms, and consequences of sexual harassment in the European Union. It offers a critical discussion of existing definitions and measurements of sexual harassment, underlines how these significantly influence the reported prevalence rates in official or survey data, and points to relevant factors which explain the observed individual and country differences.
-
J Interpers Violence · Apr 2017
Tensions and Ambivalent Feelings: Opinions of Emergency Department Employees About the Identification and Management of Intimate Partner Violence.
The objective of this study was to examine factors facilitating and constraining the identification and management of intimate partner violence (IPV) at an emergency department (ED). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 ED employees of a university hospital in the Netherlands. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed by using qualitative content analysis in Atlas.ti. ⋯ Although ED employees expressed openness and willingness to help, they also took the view that victims had a considerable responsibility of their own in disclosing and managing IPV, which led to ambivalent feelings. In conclusion, ED employees faced tensions in IPV identification and management caused by lack of awareness, knowledge and resources, conflicting priorities at the ED, and ambivalent feelings. Improvements can be made by supporting ED employees with guidelines in the form of a protocol and with training that also addresses the tensions ED employees face.
-
J Interpers Violence · Mar 2017
Entrapment of Victims of Spousal Abuse in Ghana: A Discursive Analysis of Family Identity and Agency of Battered Women.
Drawing on discursive psychology and positioning theory, this study explores the influence of cultural and familial value orientations on battered women's identity, agency, and decision to leave or stay in abusive conjugal relationship in Ghana. Two semi-structured focus group discussions and four in-depth personal interviews were conducted with 16 victims of husband-to-wife abuse from rural and urban Ghana. The findings indicate that entrapment of victims of spousal abuse in Ghana reflects their social embeddedness and that battered women's identities and agency are expressed in the context of familial and cultural value orientations. ⋯ Participants' discursive accounts further suggest that stay or leave decisions of battered women in Ghana reflect a joint product of negotiated agency between victims and their extended family. It is thus argued that the agency of battered women in Ghana is not constituted by individual psychological states or motives, but instead, viewed as a property of victims who exercise it in a given relational context, and partly constituted by familial relationships and identities. The study suggests that intervention initiatives in Ghana should focus on the phenomenon of conjugal violence beyond immediate victims to include families and the larger communities in which victims are embedded.
-
J Interpers Violence · Nov 2016
Why Do Women Justify Violence Against Wives More Often Than Do Men in Vietnam?
Intimate partner violence (IPV) harms the health of women and their children. In Vietnam, 31% of women report lifetime exposure to physical IPV, and surprisingly, women justify physical IPV against wives more often than do men. We compare men's and women's rates of finding good reason for wife hitting and assess whether differences in childhood experiences and resources and constraints in adulthood account for observed differences. ⋯ Having children was associated with justifying wife hitting among women but not men. Exposure to IPV in adulthood was associated with justifying wife hitting among men, but was negatively associated with justification of IPV among women. Further study of the gendered effects of resources and constraints in adulthood on attitudes about IPV against women will clarify women's more frequent reporting than men's that IPV against women is justified.