Students’ attitudes towards and willingness to intervene in partner violence against women in Sweden

Abstract

Abstract Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a global public health problem, shown to be related to gender equality and to attitudes towards IPVAW. In Sweden, however, the reported prevalence of IPVAW is high, despite high levels of gender equality and a clear condemnation of such violence on the societal level. This phenomenon has been referred to as The Nordic paradox. One potential explanation for this paradox is that gender equality measures at the public level are not necessarily comparable to gender equality at a private level. One way to find out more about this is to investigate attitudes towards IPVAW at an individual level, which has so far been done to a limited extent in a Swedish context. In the current study, the aim was to investigate different aspects of attitudes to IPVAW (perceived acceptability, perceived severity, victim-blaming and ambivalent sexism) among university students in Sweden, and whether those attitudes were related to studentś willingness to intervene in cases of IPVAW. Any gender differences related to IPVAW attitudes and willingness to intervene were also examined. The respondents (n = 656, ≥18 years old) were recruited from three different universities and represented different scientific fields (e.g. social, behavioral, and technical sciences). Most of the respondents were undergraduate students and the majority were women (81%). The results showed that the students had rather non-accepting attitudes towards IPVAW overall, but viewed victims as to some extent responsible of the violence they are subjected to. There were no gender differences regarding willingness to intervene in cases of IPVAW, and attitudes to IPVAW were related to willingness to intervene. There were both similarities and differences between male and female students, in terms of how attitudes were linked to willingness to intervene. The presentation will discuss the results and their implications for future research, policy and practice. Key messages • Increased knowledge on attitudes towards IPVAW in Sweden may shed light on the Nordic paradox. • While non-accepting attitudes were found overall, gender differences and tendencies towards victim-blaming were identified.