The Influence Of Male Gender Role Strain On Intimate Partner Violence Behavior:The Mediating Effect Of Males’ Attitude Towards Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence is a worldwide human rights issue and a public health problem,which not only does harm to the physical and mental health of the victim,but also brings a series of economic burdens to the society for victim assistance,public security and judicial expenditure.Violence against women causes more severe physical injuries and needs more medical treatment.Therefore,it is necessary to find out the psychological mechanism of males’ using of partner violence to understand the causes of partner violence further.Studies abroad have found that the rigid male gender role norms cause negative psychological and behavioral effects on males,which is called male gender role strain.The higher the level of male gender role strain is,the more supportive attitude towards partner violence.Attitude predicts behavior.Studies which involve different age or occupations groups as subjects found that supportive attitude towards partner violence predicted higher frequency of using partner violence.Therefore,this study explores how two types of male gender role strain(gender role stress/gender role conflict)influence partner violence attitudes and then influence partner violence behaviors in turn.Study 1 was the development of Males’ Attitude towards Intimate Partner Violence Scale.There is currently no localized attitude scale for partner violence in China,and the scales abroad have some disadvantages as follows: some did not cover major types of partner violence,some did not separate the items for perpetrators or for victims,and others were developed with specified subjects such as college students.It is necessary to develop a partner violence attitude scale for heterosexual males in China.First,the interview method was used to conduct semi-structured interviews with 10 adult heterosexual males to understand how they view partner violence,how they classify partner violence,and what specific behaviors are included in each type.Referring to the existing relevant scales,the expected structure of the scale was set as four factors: physical violence attitude,psychological violence attitude,sexual violence attitude and controlling behavior attitude.After several discussions and revisions between a psychology expert and 4 psychology-majored graduate students,the first version of the scale was formed.Second,using the research method of questionnaire survey,the scale was distributed to 1221 adult males,and a total of 906 effective questionnaires were obtained.After performing item analysis and exploratory factor analysis on the data,the final version of the scale was formed,and the validity and reliability of the final version were evaluated.The results prove that the Males’ Attitude towards Intimate Partner Violence Scale has good reliability and validity.Study 2 used the questionnaire method to explore the relationship between males’ gender role conflict,intimate partner violence attitudes and intimate partner violence behaviors.The Male Gender Role Conflict Scale,the Adult Male Partner Violence Attitudes Scale(developed in Study 1),and the Conflict Tactics Scale 2 were adopted to measure male gender role conflict,partner violence attitudes,and partner violence behaviors respectively.Questionnaires were distributed to 460 adult males,and a total of 373 effective questionnaires were obtained.The results showed that adult males’ attitude towards partner violence played a mediating role between gender role conflict and partner violence behavior.Study 3 used the questionnaire method to explore the relationship between males’ gender role stress,intimate partner violence attitudes and intimate partner violence behaviors.Gender Role Discrepancy and Discrepancy Stress scale,Adult Males’ Partner Violence Attitude scale and Conflict Tactics scale 2 were adopted to separately assess male gender role stress,partner violence attitude and partner violence behavior.A total of 302 effective questionnaires were collected from 374 adult males in China.The results show that adult males’ partner violence attitude plays a mediating role between gender role stress and partner violence behaviors.Study 4 used scenario simulation method to explore the impact of male gender role stress on partner violence.The male gender role stress is unstable,it is vulnerable to different situation and people’s feedback.Therefore,this study uses the scenario simulation method to construct two types of couple conflict scenarios.This study used a 2(gender role stress levels: high/low)* 2(partner conflict type: threatening/not threatening masculinity)mixed design.The between-subject variable is gender role stress level,which is divided into high and low gender role stress groups;the within-subject variable is the type of partner conflicts,which are also divided into two types of disputes that threaten or not threaten males’ masculinity.The dependent variable is the partner violence score for each conflict scenario.The findings prove the original hypotheses: Men with greater gender role stress did more partner violence behaviors in all scenarios than men with less gender role stress.To sum up,both types of male gender role strain can predict partner violence behavior,and attitudes toward partner violence play a mediating role between them.This study focuses on the psychological mechanism of the reason why male adopted partner violence,and verifies the impacts of different types of gender role strain and partner violence attitudes on partner violence behaviors.This research provides a new theoretical perspective for understanding the occurrence of partner violence.At the same time,this study implied some ideas for the prevention and intervention of intimate partner violence.