Gendered Social Learning, Nonfamily Institutions, and Attitudes About Recourse After Partner Violence

Objective: To provide the first study in Vietnam of how gendered social learning about violence and exposure to nonfamily institutions influence women's attitudes about a wife's recourse after physical intimate partner violence (IPV). Method: A probability sample of 532 married women, ages 18 to 50 years, was surveyed in July through August, 2012 in My Hao district. We fit a multivariate linear regression model to estimate correlates of favoring recourse in 6 situations using a validated attitudinal scale. We split attitudes toward recourse into 3 subscales (disfavor silence, favor informal recourse, favor formal recourse) and fit 1 multivariate ordinal logistic regression model for each behavior to estimate correlates of favoring recourse. Results: On average, women favored recourse in 2.8 situations. Women who were older and had witnessed physical IPV in childhood had less favorable attitudes about recourse. Women who were hit as children, had completed more schooling, worked outside agriculture, and had sought recourse after IPV had more favorable attitudes about recourse. Conclusions: Normative change among women may require efforts to curb family violence, counsel those exposed to violence in childhood, and enhance women's opportunities for higher schooling and nonagricultural wage work. The state and organizations working on IPV might overcome pockets of unfavorable public opinion by enforcing accountability for IPV rather than seeking to alter ideas about recourse among women.