Factors Associated With Willingness To Report Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) to Police in South Korea

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious social problem in South Korea, but the IPV reporting rate to the police is not high enough. To reduce violence and further victimization, it is important for IPV (potential) victims to report to police. Thus, this study aimed to examine the factors associated with willingness to report IPV to police if they experience it using the 2013 Korean National Domestic Violence Survey data. A representative sample of 5,000 Korean participants, of whom 1,668 were males and 3,332 were females, were recruited using a stratified multistage sampling design. We found that the willingness to report IPV to the police was statistically significant when the participants were young, had strong knowledge of IPV-related laws, had lower levels of acceptance of violence, had lower levels of conservative gender role values, and when the seriousness of violence was higher for both male and female participants. However, having children and having experienced child abuse only affected women’s willingness to report IPV to the police. Based on this study’s findings, we then discussed policy implications to prevent further victimization, focusing on factors that are associated with willingness to report violence to the police.

Combating IPV With Community Leaders in Honduras: An Evaluation of an IPV Training Program Among Teachers and Health Professionals

“…IPV victims' unwillingness to seek help from the police and other formal professionals is not a phenomenon unique to Latin America. Studies have found that IPV victims are less likely to seek help unless they fear for their lives (Loke et al, 2012) or their children's lives (Kim & Ferraresso, 2021;Rhodes et al, 2010) due to the severity of the abuse. However, this might be particularly relevant in Latin America due to the mistrust of and low confidence in the police among the general public (Cao & Zhao, 2005).…”

Can social media reach isolated domestic abuse victims? Evidence from a randomized control trial during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“…Factors associated with a higher likelihood of domestic abuse reporting include: higher education level of the victim (Coker et al(2000); more severe violence, sustained injuries or life-risking violence (Fanslow and Robinson(2009), Park and Ko(2020), Kim and Ferraresso (2021))); existence of children exposed to violence (Fanslow and Robinson(2009)); damage to property (Birdsey and Snowball(2013)); and age of the victim (younger victims tend to report more often than older victims) (Rivara et al(2009)).…”

“…Victims that have experienced domestic abuse during childhood and its subsequent normalization -a phenomenon known as inter-generational transmission of violence -are also less likely to report (Widom, Czaja and Dutton(2014)). Moreover, a lack of awareness of domestic violence laws and available resources (Kim and Ferraresso(2021)) also correlate to a lower likelihood of reporting.…”

Legitimacy, incipience, and perception of informal social control of intimate partner violence: Experiment on a Korean parent sample

“…Women were twice as likely to report physical IPV victimization in the past year compared to men (6.9% vs. 3.4%) and alcohol intake was significantly related to both victimization and perpetration in both women and men (Lee et al, 2014). Reporting of IPV to police is uncommon in South Korea; underreporting is exacerbated by conservative Confucian gender roles and higher tolerance for violence (Kim & Ferraresso, 2021). South Korean women who are both victimized by IPV and have conservative Confucian gender roles have significantly more depression symptoms than suggested by the simple addition of the main effects of each (Park et al, 2017).…”