Measuring Attitudes About Women’s Recourse After Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) against women are widely surveyed, but attitudes about women's recourse after exposure to IPV are understudied, despite their importance for intervention. Designed through qualitative research and administered in a probability sample of 1,054 married men and women 18 to 50 years in My Hao District, Vietnam, the ATT-RECOURSE scale measures men's and women's attitudes about a wife's recourse after exposure to physical IPV. Data were initially collected for nine items. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with one random split-half sample (N 1 = 526) revealed a one-factor model with significant loadings (0.316-0.686) for six items capturing a wife's silence, informal recourse, and formal recourse. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the other random split-half sample (N 2 = 528) showed adequate fit for the six-item model and significant factor loadings of similar magnitude to the EFA results (0.412-0.669). For the six items retained, men consistently favored recourse more often than did women (52.4%-66.0% of men vs. 41.9%-55.2% of women). Tests for uniform differential item functioning (DIF) by gender revealed one item with significant uniform DIF, and adjusting for this revealed an even larger gap in men's and women's attitudes, with men favoring recourse, on average, more than women. The six-item ATT-RECOURSE scale is reliable across independent samples and exhibits little uniform DIF by gender, supporting its use in surveys of men and women. Further methodological research is discussed. Research is needed in Vietnam about why women report less favorable attitudes than men regarding women's recourse after physical IPV.

Measuring Acceptability of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Development and Validation of the A-IPVAW Scale

“…Some previous research has applied IRT to the study of intimate partner violence, either by fitting an IRT model to an existing scale (e.g., Beck, Menke, & Figueredo, 2013;Jose, Olino, & O'Leary, 2012;Reichenheim, Klein, & Moraes, 2007) or by testing differential item functioning across gender (e.g., Edelen, McCaffrey, Marshall, & Jaycox, 2009;Yount et al, 2014); however, none of these studies addressed the acceptability of IPVAW. Moreover, IRT offers improved factor scores that can be used to assess which latent trait levels (i.e., acceptability estimates) are measured more accurately.…”

Why Do Women Justify Violence Against Wives More Often Than Do Men in Vietnam?

“…As in other rural Vietnamese communities, reconciliation groups are present to resolve community conflicts. These community attributes are typical of rural communities in peri-urban areas (Rydstrøm, 2003a; Yount, VanderEnde, et al, 2014). …”

“…My Hao is a predominantly rural area with a population of about 97,733 residents. Residents of My Hao have diverse livelihoods, comprised of farming (64%), local factory work (30%), and self-employment within small enterprises (23%) (Yount, VanderEnde, et al, 2014). Women engage in market work while also performing a majority of the domestic labor for their families (Yount, VanderEnde, et al, 2014).…”

“…Residents of My Hao have diverse livelihoods, comprised of farming (64%), local factory work (30%), and self-employment within small enterprises (23%) (Yount, VanderEnde, et al, 2014). Women engage in market work while also performing a majority of the domestic labor for their families (Yount, VanderEnde, et al, 2014). My Hao is governed by local People’s Committees and the Communist Party, which ensures the commune’s ideological position (Yount, VanderEnde, et al, 2014).…”

“…Patrilineal ancestor worship leads to the valuing of male over female progeny, and thus men symbolically are deemed superior, as is reflected in the Vietnamese idiom that men are the “pillars of the house” ( tru cot ) (Rydstrøm, 2003b). Moreover, according to Taoist principles, men are believed to embody “hot anger” and women are expected to mold their beliefs and behaviors to preserve household harmony (Rydstrøm, 2003b; Yount, VanderEnde, et al, 2014). Within Vietnamese family life, conflict resulting in the husband’s use of physical IPV against his wife still often is acceptable behavior (Vung & Krantz, 2009).…”