Do Macro Contexts of Women's Controllability Perpetuate Men's Control-Seeking and Facilitate Intimate Partner Violence?

BACKGROUND: An estimated two million women and one million men experience rape, stalking, or physical assault by a current or former romantic partner each year in the U.S. Not only do women experience double the incidents, but the intimate partner violence (IPV) that women experience is typically more severe compared to men. The research literature suggests that desire for control, men's attitudes toward male dominance and women, and women's status in communities all affect men's IPV perpetration. Yet, there are substantial gaps in the literature on how different macro contexts facilitate IPV and how context relates to men's attitudes and desire for control. To explore these gaps, this study examines three research questions: Does men's control-seeking mediate the relationships between men's attitudes toward both male dominance and backlash and the likelihood that men will perpetrate physical or psychological IPV? Does the macro context of women's controllability influence men's level of control-seeking? Does the macro context of women's controllability affect the likelihood that men will perpetrate physical or psychological IPV? METHODS: A two-level contextual analysis was used to examine the research questions. First, a cross-sectional online survey was administered to all male undergraduate students from a state-funded University in Florida with 3,221 (28%) responding. The survey measured attitudes about male dominance and backlash, desire for control, IPV perpetration, and demographics. Second, data about women's macro contexts were compiled from existing archival data such as from the U.S. Census Bureau. Surveys were linked to high school graduation county. Analyses were conducted with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 and Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear Modeling (HLM) version 6.08. SPSS multinomial logistic regression was used to test research question one, the HLM two-level hierarchical linear model was used to test research question two, and the HLM two-level hierarchical generalized linear model was used to test question three. RESULTS: The result of the first question showed that combined effect of control-seeking on either backlash or male dominance failed to further increase men's likelihood for perpetrating IPV, after controlling for all main effects. Findings for the second question at the individual level showed that men with higher levels of male dominance or backlash were associated with having higher levels of control-seeking. The county level effect showed that men from counties where women share more power and independence tended to have significantly less control-seeking. The results for the final research question showed men were less likely to perpetrate psychological IPV when they lived in counties where women overall had greater power and independence. IMPLICATIONS: Overall, results indicate that greater macro contexts of women's controllability increases men's control-seeking, which in turn increases the likelihood men will perpetrate IPV, as well as facilitates men's IPV perpetration. This study makes a useful step toward conceptualizing and understanding the role of context in IPV, especially IPV involving desire for control. The results are also hopeful for IPV prevention science, especially for community level prevention efforts where empirical evidence for promising macro level change is dearly needed.