The influence of type of intimate relationship and aggressor's gender on the perception of psychological violence and the intention of reporting this violence to the police [Póster]

THE INFLUENCE OF TYPE OF INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP AND AGGRESSOR’S GENDER ON THE PERCEPTION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE AND THE INTENTION OF REPORTING THIS VIOLENCE TO THE POLICE 70th International Council of Psychologists, September 10-14, 2012 Sevilla –Spain. Carmen Rodríguez, Mercedes Durán & Roberto Martínez-Pecino University of Seville (Spain) [email protected] Domestic violence can occur in any close relationship, that is, heterosexual and gay male and lesbian couples experience different types of this violence. Among all the manifestations of domestic violence, psychological violence is one of the most difficult to assess in both because its "invisibility" (Bonino, 1998), its difficult social perception and supposed limitations on the identification of abuse and in its complaint (Waalen, Goodwin, Spitz, Petersen & Saltzman, 2000). Research that extend findings regarding sex-based perceptions of psychological violence incidents are needed in order to offer a better assessment to the criminal justice system and they treated all people equitably. Despite similar patterns of prevalence, recurrence, and escalation of violence, the literature that have reported data on domestic violence occurring in gay male and lesbian couples is scarce compared to heterosexual couples (Seelau & Seelau, 2005). There is some evidence that the couple´s sexual orientation and sex of the perpetrator could affect criminal justice system responses to domestic violence. In general, people blame and qualify as illegal act to a greater extent the violence by a man against the exerted by a woman (Worden & Carlson, 2005) and they valued differential form that is set to a homosexual relationship (Connolly et al., 2000; Harris & Cook, 1994). However, the role of the type of relationship and the aggressor´s gender in the social perceptions of psychological violence in heterosexual relationships, gay male and lesbian relationships has not been well documented. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of the type of relationship (heterosexual vs. homosexual) and aggressor’s gender (men or women) on the perception of existence and definition of psychological violence. The intention of reporting this kind of violence in intimate relationships to the police was also analyzed. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OBJECTIVE METHOD PARTICIPANTS:One hundred and fifty three university students of psychology and social work from the Universities of Seville and Huelva (52,3% women and 47,7% Men). Aged from 18 to 47 (M=21.81;SD = 4.16) DESIGN:2(Type of relationship) x2(Aggressor´s gender ): four scenarios of psychological violence. PROCEDURE AND MATERIALS ●Dependent Variables: Items to evaluate people´s identification of psychological violence (e.g.,“To what extend do you think that this is a psychological violence situation ?") and Participant´s intention to report the situation of psychological violence to the police (e.g.,“To what extend do you consider that this situation should be reported to the police?“). Six point rating-scale ranging from 0(Strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). RELATIONSHIP SCENARIOS GENDER AGGRESSOR VICTIM Heterosexual 1 Male Female 2 Female Male Homosexual 3 Male Male 4 Female Female TABLE 1. Scenarios of psychological violence RESULTS FIGURE 1. Identification of psychological violence JUSTIFICATION Bonino, L. (1998). Micromachismos, la violencia invisible. Madrid: Cecom. Connolly, C., Huzurbazar, S. & Routh - McGee, T. (2000). Multiple parties in domestic violence situations and arrest. Journal of Criminal Justice. 28, (3), 181–188. Harris, R. J., & Cook, C. A. (1994). Attributions about spouse abuse: It matters who the batterers and victims are. Sex Roles, 30,553-565. Seelau, S. M. & Seelau, E.P. (2005). Gender-Role stereotypes and perceptions of heterosexual , gay and lesbian domestic violence. Journal of Family Violence, 20,363-371. Waalen, J., Goodwin, M., Spitz, A., Petersen, R. & Saltzman, L. (2000). Screening for Intimate Partner Violence by Health Care Providers. Barriers and Interventions. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 19,(4), 230 –237. Worden,A. & Carlson, B. (2005). Attitudes and beliefs about domestic violence: Results of apublic opinion survey: Beliefs about causes. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20,1219-1243. This study extends previous findings regarding sex-based perceptions of domestic violence, specifically, psychological violence. People were more able to identify psychological violence incidents when a woman (compare to a man) was the aggressor of this violence. Also, people had stronger reactions to psychological violence committed against men victims and abuse committed by female perpetrators. Although our results partially differ from previous findings studying domestic violence in general (Worden & Carlson, 2005), it seems that psychological violence, a more difficult kind of violence to objectively identify because no visible consequences are found, is more easily attributed to women. Also, results show that society highlights the importance of heterosexual relationships versus homosexual relationships, where domestic violence and psychological violence in particular, generates weaker people´s reactions toward same sex perpetrators. This research suggests that society in general, and the criminal justice system in particular, should be concerned about the potential for female perpetrators of psychological violence, specifically female perpetrators in heterosexual intimate relationships, to be treated inequitably. Although the victim´s injuries did not vary across our four scenarios, people perceived that men had been more seriously harmed than women, so women were more deserving of conviction. Future research should pay special attention to factors that influence social perception of psychological violence in order to achieve a better understanding of this phenomenon and to optimize psychological ,social work and justice professional interventions. IDENTIFICATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE. Hierarchical regression analysis on the dependent variable showed a significant main effect of the aggressor´s gender variable (β= -.19,t= -2.34,p< 0.05). Participants identified more the existence of psychological violence when the aggressor was woman than when the aggressor was man (Figure 1). INTENTION OF REPORTING THE INCIDENT TO THE POLICE: Hierarchical regression analysis on this dependent variable showed a main significant effect of type of relationship (β= -.20,t= -2.48,p< 0.05). Participants showed a higher intention of reporting the incident to the police when the psychological violence took place in the heterosexual relationship scenario versus the homosexual relationship scenario (Figure 2). In addition, a significant trend regarding the aggressor´s gender was also identified (β= -.14,t= -1.71,p= 0.06). Participants expressed higher intention of reporting the incident to the police when the psychological violence was exerted by a woman versus a man (Figure 3). That is, compared to the male perpetrator, female perpetrators were judged more deserving of conviction for assault. This result is opposite to previous findings (e.g., Seelou & Seelou, 2005). DISCUSSION REFERENCES FIGURE 2. Intention of reporting to the police FIGURE 3. Intention of reporting to the police Women Men Women Men HomosexualHeterosexualRelationship Aggressor´s gender Aggressor´s gender 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 Each participant received a packet of materials containing a vignete of a domestic violence incident that occurred between a romantic couple, a questionnaire assessing perceptions of the psychological violence incident and some sociodemographic questions. The type of relationship and perpetrator sex were manipulated to create four different scenarios of psychological intimate partner violence.