Citation

Savage M, Scarduzio J, Lockwood Harris K, Carlyle K. Violence Vict. 2017; 32(5): 897-918.

Affiliation

Virginia Commonwealth University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Springer Publishing)

DOI

10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-16-00100

PMID

28810944

Abstract

This study employed a mixed method approach to examine the effects of participant sex, perpetrator sex, and severity ofviolence on perceptions of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators. Quantitative participants (n = 449) completed a survey and qualitative participants (n = 31) participated in a focus group or an interview. Participants believed that it was more likely male perpetrators had prior involvement in IPV. Participants rated stories of female perpetrators as more abnormal than stories of male perpetrators. Participants in the weak severity of violence condition had lower evaluations of responsibility than the strong or fatal severity of violence conditions and only women were discerning about perpetrator sex in their ratings of responsibility. Theoretical implications extend intimate terrorism and defensive attribution theory.

Language: en