Citation

Yount KM, Krause KH. Psychol. Violence 2017; 7(1): 128-139.

Affiliation

Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/vio0000029

PMID

28392967

PMCID

PMC5382792

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To provide the first study in Vietnam of how gendered social learning about violence and exposure to non-family institutions influence women's attitudes about a wife's recourse after physical IPV.

METHOD: A probability sample of 532 married women, ages 18-50 years, was surveyed in July-August, 2012 in Mỹ Hào district. We fit a multivariate linear regression model to estimate correlates of favoring recourse in six situations using a validated attitudinal scale. We split attitudes towards recourse into three subscales (disfavor silence, favor informal recourse, favor formal recourse) and fit one multivariate ordinal logistic regression model for each behavior to estimate correlates of favoring recourse.

RESULTS: On average, women favored recourse in 2.8 situations. Women who were older and had witnessed physical IPV in childhood had less favorable attitudes about recourse. Women who were hit as children, had completed more schooling, worked outside agriculture, and had sought recourse after IPV had more favorable attitudes about recourse.

CONCLUSIONS: Normative change among women may require efforts to curb family violence, counsel those exposed to violence in childhood, and enhance women's opportunities for higher schooling and non-agricultural wage work. The state and organizations working on IPV might overcome pockets of unfavorable public opinion by enforcing accountability for IPV rather than seeking to alter ideas about recourse among women.

Language: en

Keywords

Vietnam; domestic violence; gender norms; intimate partner violence; recourse seeking