Perceptions of violence and their socio-economic determinants: evidence from transition countries

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ABSTRACT We study the socio-economic determinants of perceptions toward intimate partner violence (IPV), utilizing a novel dataset covering eight countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine. We identify factors that are correlated with perceptions of violence in transition countries and contrast them with the results obtained for Sweden, a non-transition country characterized by higher levels of gender equality and less conservative social norms. Within transition countries we also explore the specificities of former countries of the Soviet Union (FSU) and Poland. Our analysis shows significant linkages between demographic, social and economic variables and the likelihood of identifying abusive behaviour, especially in transition countries. Our findings suggest that, in transition countries, action can be taken to partially offset more conservative social norms and, potentially, contribute to changing social norms in the longer term. These actions should be tailored to the specific national context.