What Matters When Examining Attitudes of Economic Abuse? Gender and Student Status as Predictors of Blaming, Minimizing, and Excusing Economic Abuse

Abstract

Extensive research has been conducted regarding attitudes toward various types and patterns of violence against intimate partners, but there is a lack of research on attitudes toward economic abuse in general. In the current study, we examined attitudes toward economic abuse by examining how participants blamed the victim, minimized the economic abuse, and excused the perpetrator in hypothetical scenarios. We also examined two characteristics of participants: binary gender differences (i.e., woman, man) and differences between students and non-students. Participants ( N = 239) were recruited via the SONA system of a private university ( n = 120) and via Amazon's Mechanical Turk ( n = 119). Participants were randomly assigned to read one of two hypothetical scenarios to evaluate how scenario condition (i.e., victim employed, victim unemployed), participant gender, and participant student status predicted attitudes toward economic abuse involving blaming, minimizing, and excusing. Moreover, we also examined ambivalent sexism and gender role ideology as predictors. A 2 (scenario condition: job, no job) × 2 (participant gender: woman, man) × 2 (student status: college student, non-college student) MANOVA indicated main effects of both participant gender and participant student status. Follow-up ANOVAs revealed that men were more likely to blame victims, minimize the economic abuse, and excuse perpetrators compared to women. Additionally, students were less likely to minimize the economic abuse compared to non-students. Moreover, both hostile sexism and traditional gender role ideology were significant predictors. Implications of the findings and future directions for researchers are discussed.

The Influence of Victim Gender on Perception of Economic Abuse

“…This finding is consistent with previous findings in which women had higher levels of empathy toward victims of abuse and therefore blamed the victim less than men did (Laso & Rodríguez-Diaz, 2022). Researchers found that men were more likely to blame the victim and minimize economic abuse in a study comparing differences in attitudes of economic abuse with male and female participants (Green et al, 2022). These results suggest that once a man becomes a victim of IPV, others, such as his male family members or friends, may blame or minimize the seriousness of the IPV, making male victims very vulnerable among IPV victims.…”

“…Our findings are similar to findings from physical and emotional IPV or stalking perception studies. Respondents perceived different types of IPV in accordance with stereotypical gender roles (Green et al, 2022;Hammock et al, 2017). Given the increased prevalence of female-to-male IPV and the fact that more women than The results also showed that there was a significant main effect of participants' gender on both blaming and minimization.…”

Economic Abuse of Women in Intimate Relationships in Ghana: Consequences and Coping Strategies

“…Economic abuse is a global social problem that cuts across socioeconomic and demographic groups (Green et al, 2022). Economic abuse refers to coercive intents to control or prevent partners from "acquiring," "maintaining," or "using" resources, which may affect partners' economic security and self-sufficiency (Adams et al, 2008).…”