How the Male Victims and Women Who Use Force Experienced Violence in Intimate Relationship: A Qualitative Study

Background and Purpose:

Intimate partner violence (IPV), particularly violence against women, is a worldwide public health issue. While research focus is often on men as perpetrators and women as victims, there are many situations where women can also be the perpetrators or party to common couple violence in IPV. However, women’s use of violence is different from that of men. A lack of resources and options often leads women’s use force, as to cope with the battering in relationships. Women’s violence is usually a response to their partner’s violence but studies on their motives and abusive behaviors are rare. To fully understand the complexity of this phenomenon, a contextual approach must be taken to study the use, motivation, and the consequence of violence. Therefore, this study aims to explore the context of Chinese women’s using force against heterosexual partners, with an additional focus on the perceived influence of Chinese culture on men’s and women’s roles in intimate relationship.

Methods:

Potential participants were identified and referred from services for perpetrators in Hong Kong. 15 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted on studying Chinese women’s use of violence in a historical, social and cultural context of victimization. Six male victims and nine women who used force in intimate relationship participated; three male and three female participants were invited to a follow-up meeting to clarify information from the first interview, where initial study findings were discussed. All participants consented to take part in the study and have their interviews taped-recorded; all interviews were carried out in a safe and private room in the service centers for IPV perpetrators. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Patterns and unique textual data regarding how and why the women used force against their partners were coded, categorized, and abstracted to form themes. Grounded theory was adopted in the analysis process.

Findings:

The motives of Chinese women using force from women’s views were related to self-defense and unhappy nature of relationships with intimate partners and in-laws. However, male victims believed the motives of women using force were due to the women’s poor emotional control and their different expectation on marriage from men. Perceived failure in mutual role fulfillment and disappointment in partners were observed in both men and women in IPV, indicating a close association with traditional Chinese family values, especially on men’s and women’s expected roles and obligations to the family. The interviews had stimulated participants’ views on victimization and perpetration, coping IPV and help-seeking behaviors.

Conclusion and Implications:

Women use of force in intimate relationship is likely to be the outcome of women’s victimization and men’s pressure to fulfil their traditional Chinese family roles. Findings of this study would enhance our knowledge in IPV intervention and how cultural values affect both men (husbands) and women (wives, mother-in-law) in intimate relationship. Implementation of culturally-specific prevention and interventions for family violence and the future research direction will be discussed in the presentation.