Opinions about potential causes and triggers of intimate partner violence against women: a population-based study among married men from Kermanshah city, Iran

Abstract

This cross-sectional study forms part of a community-based social diagnosis in an Iranian city where different community members were approached regarding their opinions about what can cause and trigger intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW). The study deals with the opinions of married men and looks for patterns of opinions and how those patterns relate to individual socio-demographic characteristics. It also discusses opinions expressed concerning the consequences of IPVAW. A workplace-based convenient sample of men from Kermanshah city filled in a standardised, self-administered questionnaire (n = 480, response rate 93%). By means of cluster analysis, four patterns of answers emerged: (1) regarding most items proposed as potential causes or triggers (33.3% of respondents); (2) not regarding them as potential causes or triggers (18.9%); (3) being ambivalent about their role (20.3%); (4) having mixed opinions but mainly not regarding them as potential causes and triggers (27.4%). Being less educated and a blue-collar worker were prominent attributes of those men inclined not to agree with the potential role played in IPVAW by the items proposed (class 2). Moreover, individual ethnicity and perpetration of non-physical violence against one's spouse had very little association with the patterns observed.