Men and the Ability to Identify as Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

This study attempted to delineate differences between men who do and do-not self-identify as victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Although the prevalence of male victims of IPV is relatively high (Bates, 2020) and these individuals experience negative otucomes from this abuse (Hines & Douglas, 2010;2016), men are often reluctant to identify as victims of IPV (Machadeo et al., 2016). As a result of this, any study sampling male victims of IPV is lacking the data of males who have experienced IPV but do not self-identify as such. This study attempted to address the limitations in previous research by sampling men who do not identify as victims of IPV, this was done by measuring the paricipant's experiences of abuse within the study itself and leaving the inclusionary criteria broad. We hypothesized that our predictors (gender role beliefs, precarious manhood beliefs, attitudes toward dating violence), when controlling for the variety of abusive behaviours experienced, would accurately predict male self-identification with abuse. We found that our model was significantly predictive of self-identification with abuse. However, only attitudes toward dating violence was significantly, uniquely predictive, with more positive attitudes towards dating violence being related to a reduced likelihood of abuse self-identification.