The relationship between domestic violence and the attitudes of women towards honor, gender roles, and wife-beating in Turkey

Abstract

PurposeViolence against women (VAM) is still considered a global health problem and is highly prevalent in Turkey. This study aimed to determine the relationship between women's exposure to spousal/partner violence and their attitudes towards honor, social gender roles, and beating in Turkey. MethodsThe study was designed as descriptive and completed with 847 women in Turkey. Data were collected with a questionnaire, the Attitudes towards Honor Scale (AHS), the Attitudes towards Wife-beating Scale (ATWB), and the Gender Roles Attitudes Scale (GRA). ResultsThe median age of the women was 34 (18–67) years. It was found that 23% of the women were exposed to physical violence, 46.8% to verbal violence, 33.6% to emotional violence, 21.1% to sexual abuse, and 13% to economic violence. There was a negative relationship between GRA score and ATWB and AHS scores. It was determined that the attitude of an individual towards social gender posed a risk for physical (p = 0.037) and sexual violence (p = 0.037), the attitude towards honor posed a risk for sexual violence (p = 0.002), and that the attitude towards wife-beating posed a risk for all types of violence including physical, verbal, emotional, sexual, and economic violence (p < 0.001). ConclusionsAs women's egalitarian attitudes towards social gender increased, their approving attitudes towards wife-beating, supervision of women by their family members, and their association with family honor decreased. Community-based interventions that promote egalitarian social gender roles could reduce VAM in this community.