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Country of residence, gender equality and victim blaming attitudes about partner violence : a multilevel analysis in EU

Ivert, Anna-Karin LU ; Merlo, Juan LU orcid and Gracia, Enrique LU (2018) In European Journal of Public Health 28(3). p.559-564
Abstract

Background: Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a global and preventable public health problem. Public attitudes, such as victim-blaming, are important for our understanding of differences in the occurrence of IPVAW, as they contribute to its justification. In this paper, we focus on victim-blaming attitudes regarding IPVAW within the EU and we apply multilevel analyses to identify contextual determinants of victim-blaming attitudes. We investigate both the general contextual effect of the country and the specific association between country level of gender equality and individual victim-blaming attitudes, as well as to what extend a possible general contextual effect was explained by county level gender... (More)

Background: Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a global and preventable public health problem. Public attitudes, such as victim-blaming, are important for our understanding of differences in the occurrence of IPVAW, as they contribute to its justification. In this paper, we focus on victim-blaming attitudes regarding IPVAW within the EU and we apply multilevel analyses to identify contextual determinants of victim-blaming attitudes. We investigate both the general contextual effect of the country and the specific association between country level of gender equality and individual victim-blaming attitudes, as well as to what extend a possible general contextual effect was explained by county level gender equality.

Methods: We analyzed data from 26 800 respondents from 27 member states of the European Union who responded to a survey on public perceptions of domestic violence. We applied multilevel logistic regression analysis and measures of variance (intra-class correlation (ICC)) were calculated, as well as the discriminatory accuracy by calculating the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve.

Results: Over and above individual characteristics, about 15% of the individual variance in the propensity for having victim-blaming attitudes was found at the country level, and country level of gender equality did not affect the general contextual effect (i.e. ICC) of the country on individual victim-blaming attitudes.

Conclusion: The present study shows that there are important between-country differences in victim-blaming attitudes that cannot be explained by differences in individual-level demographics or in gender equality at the country level. More research on attitudes towards IPVAW is needed.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
European Journal of Public Health
volume
28
issue
3
pages
6 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85048609024
  • pmid:29036678
ISSN
1101-1262
DOI
10.1093/eurpub/ckx138
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9fa98491-6b0b-41ea-b424-1307f9c33c3a
date added to LUP
2017-10-25 07:04:08
date last changed
2025-10-14 11:37:25
@article{9fa98491-6b0b-41ea-b424-1307f9c33c3a,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a global and preventable public health problem. Public attitudes, such as victim-blaming, are important for our understanding of differences in the occurrence of IPVAW, as they contribute to its justification. In this paper, we focus on victim-blaming attitudes regarding IPVAW within the EU and we apply multilevel analyses to identify contextual determinants of victim-blaming attitudes. We investigate both the general contextual effect of the country and the specific association between country level of gender equality and individual victim-blaming attitudes, as well as to what extend a possible general contextual effect was explained by county level gender equality.</p><p>Methods: We analyzed data from 26 800 respondents from 27 member states of the European Union who responded to a survey on public perceptions of domestic violence. We applied multilevel logistic regression analysis and measures of variance (intra-class correlation (ICC)) were calculated, as well as the discriminatory accuracy by calculating the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve.</p><p>Results: Over and above individual characteristics, about 15% of the individual variance in the propensity for having victim-blaming attitudes was found at the country level, and country level of gender equality did not affect the general contextual effect (i.e. ICC) of the country on individual victim-blaming attitudes.</p><p>Conclusion: The present study shows that there are important between-country differences in victim-blaming attitudes that cannot be explained by differences in individual-level demographics or in gender equality at the country level. More research on attitudes towards IPVAW is needed.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ivert, Anna-Karin and Merlo, Juan and Gracia, Enrique}},
  issn         = {{1101-1262}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{559--564}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Public Health}},
  title        = {{Country of residence, gender equality and victim blaming attitudes about partner violence : a multilevel analysis in EU}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckx138}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/eurpub/ckx138}},
  volume       = {{28}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}