Abstract:

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent form of violence characterized by aggressive or controlling behaviour by one partner towards the other in an intimate relationship. Intimate partner violence attitudes (IPVA), on the other hand, refers to attitudes of acceptance or disapproval of violence within such relationships. At the individual level, IPVA can significantly predict a person’s behavior related to IPV, affecting not only the perpetrator or victim but also the willingness of third parties to intervene. At the group level, IPVA also predicts national prevalence of IPV, with more negative attitudes towards IPV (e.g. more accepting or condoning IPV) correlating with higher incidence rates in a country or region. By introducing attitudes into the field of IPV, researchers can shift the focus from examining the causes of IPV itself to understanding the underlying factors that shape these attitudes, thereby overcoming previous research limitations.

Drawing from the perspectives of social learning theory and feminist theory, IPV attitudes establish a connection between two explanatory paths: IPV-related social learning experiences/patriarchal ideology-IPV attitudes-IPV. Social Learning Theory focuses on the process of behavioural acquisition, emphasizing the influence of role models in social learning experiences. Introducing attitudes as a mediating cognitive variable helps explain the differences in how the same environment affects the behaviors of different individuals. Specifically, this theory addresses the impact of IPV-related social learning experiences on IPV attitudes from both the family of origin and external perspectives. Feminist Theory, by contrast, is rooted in the phenomenon of gender asymmetry in IPV and explains the nature of IPV from the standpoint of patriarchal ideology. It explores the impact of patriarchal ideology on IPV attitudes from both gender and gender role perspectives. By introducing IPV attitudes, feminist theory clarifies the specific pathways through which socio-cultural contexts influence IPV.

Among these two IPV theories, Social Learning Theory emphasizes the process of IPV formation, while Feminist Theory focuses on the root causes of IPV. By incorporating attitudes into the study of IPV, both theories add cognitive mediators with subjective initiative into the overall environment-individual behavior framework. This results in two causal paths: "IPV-related social learning experiences-IPV attitudes-IPV" and "patriarchal ideology-IPV attitudes-IPV." These causal paths significantly enhance the explanatory power of the original theories. While addressing the causes of IPV, they also pave the way for developing a more comprehensive and explanatory theory in the future, which could be applied to the practice of IPV prevention and intervention.

Future research can benefit from combining the unique perspectives of social learning theory on causal processes and feminist theory on causal roots. This integration should incorporate both protective and risk factors at individual and group levels to develop a multivariate interacting explanatory model of IPV attitudes. By linking the influences of IPV and IPVA across individual, family, group, and national dimensions, researchers can explore not only the individual-level impacts of IPVA but also the antecedent variables of IPV prevalence at a broader socio-ecological level. By investigating the risk factors and the protective factors that contribute to positive IPV attitudes, not only can researchers and healthcare practitioner identify potential IPV perpetrators, but they can also develop corresponding preventative strategies. By examining not only the mechanisms through which different factors influence IPV and IPVA, but also their interrelationships, researchers can develop a comprehensive multivariate interactive explanatory model of IPVA.

Key words: intimate partner violence, attitudes, social learning theory, feminist theory