Attitudes about and Perpetration of Violence against Women among Turkish Men
Nursen Bolsoy
Department of Midwifery, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Turkey.
Selma Sen *
Department of Midwifery, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Turkey.
Seval Cambaz Ulas
Department of Midwifery, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Turkey.
Aynur Çetinkaya
Department of Public Health Nursing, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Turkey.
Dilek Özmen
Department of Public Health Nursing, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Turkey.
Beyhan Cengiz Özyurt
Department of Public Health, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Medicine, Turkey.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study was conducted to determine the attitudes of men regarding violence against women. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Research data were collected using a Men’s Information Form and a Scale of Attitude towards Violence against Women.
The mean age of the participating men was 39.54 ± 13.55 years. The men’s general mean score for attitude regarding violence was 52.02 ± 10.81, which showed that such attitudes had a patriarchal tendency. In the univariate analyses, there was a significant difference between age group, education status, place of residence, situations of domestic violence and violent behaviour against mothers or wives, years of marriage and wife’s education status and the scores of the Scale of Attitudes towards Violence against Women (p < 0.05).
Based on our findings, it is suggested that socioeconomic factors such as witnessing and experiencing violence in childhood, female unemployment, low education level, unemployment and poverty, and place of residence affect and increase violence against women.
Keywords: Gender, violence, men, attitude.