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Justification of Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Bangladesh: What Survey Questions Fail to Capture
Author(s) -
Schuler Sidney Ruth,
Lenzi Rachel,
Yount Kathryn M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
studies in family planning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1728-4465
pISSN - 0039-3665
DOI - 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2011.00261.x
Subject(s) - domestic violence , focus group , context (archaeology) , psychology , social psychology , poison control , qualitative research , suicide prevention , medicine , sociology , environmental health , geography , social science , archaeology , anthropology
This article presents qualitative findings from a project designed to develop better methodological tools for clarifying women's and men's attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural Bangladesh and their perceptions of norms about IPV in their communities. Cognitive interviews and focus‐group discussions were used to explore respondents' subjective understanding of standard survey questions meant to elicit attitudes about IPV. We find that the proportion of participants who justified IPV under some circumstances increased when additional context was provided, suggesting that the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) questions may underrepresent the proportions of people who condone IPV. Moreover, most people in this social context also believed that IPV often goes beyond socially sanctioned limits and that something should be done to stop it—an important caveat that the DHS questions are not designed to capture. These findings suggest that incorporation of additional context into questions on IPV attitudes would make responses to these questions more meaningful.