Socio-Cultural Contexts for Normative Gender Violence: Pathways of Risk for Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Violent means of social control at both the micro- and macro-levels create norms of violence within societies that spill over into multiple domains as a reaction to a socio-cultural context of normative violence. This adverse effect may stem from normalized violence within both families and communities and contribute to intimate partner violence (IPV). From a contextual-ecological model, this becomes a victimizing effect. This study tests the theoretical premise of Norms of Violence in order to reconceptualize IPV as a victimizing effect within a larger community framework. Using data from the International Dating Violence Study, this study explores the interaction of violent socialization at both the familial and communal level, controlling for other conditions that could contribute to a normative standard of violence. The results indicate the presence of polyvictimization: nations in which youth experience the highest levels of violent socialization from both their families and communities tend to have higher levels of IPV victimization. This relationship is stronger when social structures support normative violence as conflict resolution. For females, this relationship is further exasperated. Societies across the world, including those in which the context of violence is most prominent, can work towards eradicating the negative impacts of gender violence for individuals, their families, and the communities in which they live by addressing the normalization of violence.