Public Responses to Intimate Partner Violence: Comparing Preferences of Chinese and American College Students

Abstract

Based on data collected from college students in Beijing and Hong Kong (China) and in Newark and Detroit (United States), this study assesses and explains citizen preferences of 2 major formalized responses to intimate partner violence (IPV)--law enforcement and social services intervention--in a cross-cultural context. Results show that Chinese respondents have lower support for law enforcement responses. Regional variation is only observed within China with students from Hong Kong supporting both law enforcement and social services responses more than their Beijing counterparts. Results also show that social attitudinal variables--including male dominance ideology, perceptions of IPV causation, support for the criminalization of IPV, and tolerance of IPV--influence public preferences of responses to IPV more than do demographic and experiential variables.

Telling Medical Professionals About Victimization by Intimate Partner: Analysis of Women Surviving Intimate Partner Violence

“…39 It may be that cultural toleration of IPV as well as language barriers hinder IPV disclosure by some women identifying themselves as other ethnic minority. [57][58][59] Our study observed that likelihood of IPV disclosure was relatively low for younger women with less education, which contradicts earlier research. 39 Although we found no significant association between disclosure likelihood and family income, our results showed disclosure likelihood to increase among women unable to afford seeing a doctor.…”

Beliefs of Palestinian Women From Israel About the Responsibility and Punishment of Violent Husbands and About Helping Battered Women

“…Findings have shown that higher support for formalized responses to wife beating (e.g., the utilization of legal and social services) are more prevalent in Western societies than in traditional societies, as well as in ethnic and national minorities, where higher support for informal forms of social interventions (e.g., by family members, as well as by community and religious figures) are more supported (e.g., Btoush & Haj-Yahia, 2008;Shalhoub-Kevorkian, 2000;Wu, Button, Smolter, & Poteyeva, 2013).…”

The Tendency to Make Arrests in Domestic Violence: Perceptions From Police Officers in China

“…The findings suggest that college student preferences for a traditional police response, that is, nonsupportive attitudes toward police intervention, were shaped mainly by their locality, whereas their preferences for proactive police intervention, including aggressive law enforcement interventions, were primarily influenced by their attitudes toward violence and gender roles. Based on the same data, Wu et al (2013) found that Chinese students exert less support for law enforcement responses. Furthermore, Hong Kong students support both law enforcement and social services responses more than their Bejing counterparts do.…”

“…A review of previous studies conducted in China shows that research on domestic violence has focused primarily on four areas to date: prevalence and characteristics or patterns of domestic violence (e.g., Hou et al, 2011; Parish et al, 2004), determinants or correlates of domestic violence (e.g., Chan & Zhang, 2011; Lin, Sun, & Liu, 2016; Tu & Lou, 2017; Xu, 1997; Xu et al, 2005), legal or criminal justice responses to domestic violence (e.g., Jia, 2009; Zhang, 2006), and attitudes toward domestic violence (e.g., Anderson et al, 2011; Lin, Sun, Wu, & Liu, 2016; Nguyen et al, 2013; Sun et al, 2012; Wu, Button, Smolter, & Poteyeva, 2013). Among these four areas, attitudinal studies in particular have drawn increasing attention together with the significant growth of the global awareness of domestic violence and gender equity (Lin et al, 2016).…”

“…Among these four areas, attitudinal studies in particular have drawn increasing attention together with the significant growth of the global awareness of domestic violence and gender equity (Lin et al, 2016). Most of these attitudinal studies focused on examining university students’ attitudes toward domestic violence (e.g., Lin et al, 2016; Wu et al, 2013). Few have explored perceptions or attitudes of police officers, one of the frontline professions engaged in domestic violence in the Greater China area.…”