“I Get Angry If He's Always Drinking and We Have No Money”: Exploring Motivations for Male and Female Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence in the Philippines

Abstract

Our objective was to describe the context of and motivations for female and male perpetrated IPV in Cebu, Philippines using data from in-depth interviews with 19 married women. We found three categories of IPV motivations --self-defense or retaliation, reactivity, and control. Motivations differed by gender, with women acting out of self-defense more often and men acting out of control more often. Effective IPV prevention and treatment programs should take these gender differences into consideration. Moreover, it is important to look at how IPV occurs within relationships and how this may vary by context and gender. While intimate partner violence is a well-known problem for both men and women in developing countries, we know relatively little about the context of violence in these settings. There is research from the U.S. on motivations for and other contextual aspects of female-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) and a handful of studies in lower income countries, the U.S. and Canada on motivations for and contextual aspects of male-perpetrated IPV. To create effective prevention and treatment interventions for both male and female perpetrated IPV in developing countries, it is critical to understand how IPV occurs within relationships in these settings and how this may vary by context and gender. We carried out this study to explore the context of both male and female perpetrated IPV in the Philippines using in-depth interviews with married women. We report here the findings on IPV motives and forms of IPV.

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?: a mixed methods study on causal mechanisms through which cash and in-kind food transfers decreased intimate partner violence

“…We found that IPV is a common problem in the study setting. When exploring common triggers of IPV, we found that jealousy, financial strain and men’s alcohol consumption were most often cited; this is consistent with other studies from the region [ 28 , 31 – 33 ]. Reducing conflicts over money and financial stress appeared to be one of the main ways in which the transfers helped reduce IPV.…”

Intimate partner violence screening in emergency department: a rapid review of the literature

“…However, IPV is the most current term used to refer to violence between intimate partners who may or may not be married. The use of this term also recognises that IPV can happen in heterosexual as well as homosexual relationship and that women can also be perpetrators of IPV (Desmarais et al 2012, Fehringer & Hindin 2014. While it is established that women can perpetrate IPV against their male partners, the number of women experiencing IPV and/or sustaining injuries is much higher (Howarth et al 2013, World Health Organisation 2015.…”

Crime Rate in Ozamiz City, Philippines

“…The case of intimate partner violence in Cebu, for instance, is associated with alcohol use among men partners. Women partners, in this case, are also motivated to inflict physical injury to their husband or partner out of self-defense while their partners act out of control more often (Fehringer & Hindin, 2014). Hence, crime can also be caused by psychological elements outside of an individual"s control (Vito & Maahs, 2015).…”