Exploring intimate partner violence among adult women and men in Sweden

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a worldwide public health concern. Th aim of this thesis is to assess psychometric properties of the Violence Against Women Instrument (VAWI) and to study self-reported exposure, associated and contextual factors of IPV among adult women and men residing in Sweden. A further aim is to explore and interpret men’s experiences of IPV in light of current theoretical perspectives in the field. Methods: Data was gathered by cross-sectional postal survey and consisted of 573 women and 399 men aged 18-65 years. Internal reliability and validity of the VAWI were assessed by means of Cronbach’s alpha and principal components analysis (PCA). Simple and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with exposure to IPV. In addition, twenty semi-structured interviews with men subjected to IPV were conducted and analysed using a hermeneutic spiral. Results: The Cronbach alpha coefficient for the total violence scale was 0.88 for both women and men. For women, the PCA yielded a two-component solution and a three-component solution largely mirrored the VAWI's conceptual model. For men, the conceptual model of the VAWI was only partially reflected and other constructs were found. Similar past-year exposure rates to IPV were found among women and men, whereas the rates for earlier-in-life exposure were higher among women. Factors associated with IPV for both women and men were poor to moderate social support, having grown up in a home with violence and being single, divorced or widowed. There was a tendency for women and men to report different social consequences of IPV. While the interviewed men’s female partners had established considerable and severe emotional control over them, they generally did not achieve physical or sexual control of the men. Gender as a pervasive structure affected both the expressions and experiences of IPV. Conclusions: Results from this thesis suggest that both women and men are exposed to IPV in Sweden, but in partly different ways. Hence, future public health research should be guided by gender theoretical frameworks that consider the contextual and structural differences of IPV between women and men. The results can also be used to develop a gender sensitive health care policy that contextualizes IPV by considering coercion, fear and impact of women’s and men’s experiences.