Risk factors of intimate partner violence in women attending a community-based sexual health center: Perceived discrimination as a key factor
Published:
Dec 20, 2024
Keywords:
gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, perceived discrimination, sexualized drug use, sexualized alchohol use, community center
Abstract
Gender-based violence (GBV), specifically intimate partner violence (IPV), is a global problem that predominantly impacts women. This study aimed to investigate IPV among women visiting community sexually transmitted infections’ prevention and testing centers in Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece. A sample of 187 cis and trans women filled out a questionnaire on perceived discrimination, IPV, and involvement in sexualized drug and alcohol use (SDU and SAU). Results revealed that 39.8% of women reported IPV experiences, and those who experienced IPV reported higher levels of perceived discrimination based on gender. Additionally, women reporting IPV experiences were more likely to engage in SDU and SAU. The study highlights the importance of addressing gender inequality, discrimination, and substance use when designing interventions and support services for IPV survivors. Implementing IPV screening and support services in healthcare settings, especially in inclusive community-based centers, could contribute to early detection and prevention efforts.
Article Details
- How to Cite
-
Apostolidou, A., Triantafyllidou, S., Vlachodimitropoulos Rodriguez, C., Siamitrou, P., Protopapas, K., Papadopetrakis, G., Paspalakis, A., Ntinopoulou, E., Matis, S., Manolopoulou, A., Koutsi, G., Vegkos, N., Aslanis, A., Antoniadou, A., Canellopoulos, L., & Poulios, A. (2024). Risk factors of intimate partner violence in women attending a community-based sexual health center: Perceived discrimination as a key factor. Psychology: The Journal of the Hellenic Psychological Society, 29(2), 339–348. https://doi.org/10.12681/psy_hps.39617
- Section
- SPECIAL SECTION
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The journal PSYCHOLOGY adopts a Platinum open-access policy. Submission, processing or publication costs are waived by the Hellenic Psychological Society. Papers published in the journal PSYCHOLOGY are licensed under a 'Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International' licence. The authors reserve the copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of its first publication. Third-party licensees are allowed to use the published paper immediately after publication as they wish, provided they retain the defined by the license copyright formalities, regarding the reference to its author(s) and its initial publication in the journal PSYCHOLOGY. Moreover, any adjusted work should be shared under the same reuse rights, so with the same CC license.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Anyadike-Danes, N., Reynolds, M., Armour, C., & Lagdon, S. (2023). Defining and Measuring Sexual Consent within the Context of University Students' Unwanted and Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences: A Systematic Literature Review. Trauma, violence & abuse, 15248380221147558. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221147558
Bacchus, L. J., Ranganathan, M., Watts, C., & Devries, K. (2018). Recent intimate partner violence against women and health: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. BMJ Open, 8(7), Article e019995. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019995
Bonomi, A. E., Anderson, M. L., Rivara, F. P., & Thompson, R. W. (2009). Health Care Utilization and Costs Associated with Physical and Nonphysical-Only Intimate Partner Violence. Health Services Research, 44(3), 1052–1067. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6773.2009.00955.x
Brown, M. J., Weitzen, S., & Lapane, K. L. (2013). Association between intimate partner violence and preventive screening among women. Journal of Womens Health, 22(11), 947–952. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2012.4222
Cafferky, B. M., Mendez, M., Anderson, J. R., & Stith, S. M. (2018). Substance use and intimate partner violence: A meta-analytic review. Psychology of Violence, 8(1), 110–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000074
EIGE (2018). Data collection on intimate partner violence by the police and justice sectors: Greece. (2018). Retrieved July 9, 2023, from https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/publications/data-collection-intimate-partner-violence-police-and-justice-sectors-greece?language_content_entity=en
Decker, M. R., Holliday, C. N., Hameeduddin, Z., Shah, R., Miller, J., Dantzler, J., & Goodmark, L. (2019). “You Do Not Think of Me as a Human Being”: Race and Gender Inequities Intersect to Discourage Police Reporting of Violence against Women. Journal of Urban Health, 96(5), 772-783. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-019-00359-z
Diotima (2019). Final Report. Accessibility and Barriers to Gender-Based Violence Services for refugee and migrant girls, boys, women and men in Greece. Center for research on women’s issues Diotima. https://diotima.org.gr/en/final-report-research-on-accessibility-and-barriers-to-gender-based-violence-services-forrefugee-and-migrant-girls-boys-women-and-men-in-greece/
Dokkedahl, S. B., Kirubakaran, R., Bech-Hansen, D., Kristensen, T. R., & Elklit, A. (2022). The psychological subtype of intimate partner violence and its effect on mental health: a systematic review with meta-analyses. Systematic reviews, 11(1), 163. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-022-02025-z
Fleming, P. J., McCleary-Sills, J., Morton, M., Levtov, R., Heilman, B., & Barker, G. (2015). Risk factors for men's lifetime perpetration of physical violence against intimate partners: results from the international men and gender equality survey (IMAGES) in eight countries. PloS one, 10(3), Article e0118639. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118639
Freestone, J., Prestage, G., Bourne, A., Ezard, N., Race, K., Nedanoski, A., Murray, J., & Siefried, K. J. (2022a). Controlling for pleasure and risk: The experiences of sexuality and gender diverse people who use GHB. The International journal on drug policy, 105, 103747. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103747
Freestone, J., Bourne, A., Layard, E., Prestage, G., Murray, J., & Siefried, K. J. (2022b). Playing at the edges, navigating sexual boundaries, and narrating sexual distress; Practices and perspectives of sexuality and gender diverse people who use GHB. The International journal on drug policy, 108, 103811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103811
Fulu, E., Jewkes, R., Roselli, T., Garcia-Moreno, C., & UN Multi-country Cross-sectional Study on Men and Violence research team (2013). Prevalence of and factors associated with male perpetration of intimate partner violence: findings from the UN Multi-country Cross-sectional Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. The Lancet. Global health, 1(4), e187–e207. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(13)70074-3
Heise, L., Ellsberg, M., & Gottmoeller, M. (2002). A global overview of gender-based violence. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 78, S5-S14.
Karakasi, M. V., Voultsos, P., Fotou, E., Nikolaidis, I., Kyriakou, M. S., Markopoulou, M., Douzenis, A., & Pavlidis, P. (2023). Emerging trends in domestic homicide/femicide in Greece over the period 2010-2021. Medicine, science, and the law, 63(2), 120–131. https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024221103700
Lagdon, S., Armour, C., & Stringer, M. (2014). Adult experience of mental health outcomes as a result of intimate partner violence victimisation: a systematic review. European journal of psychotraumatology, 5, https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v5.24794
Leddy, A. M., Weiss, E., Yam, E., & Pulerwitz, J. (2019). Gender-based violence and engagement in biomedical HIV prevention, care and treatment: a scoping review. BMC public health, 19(1), 897. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7192-4
McCall-Hosenfeld, J. S., Chuang, C. H., & Weisman, C. S. (2013). Prospective association of intimate partner violence with receipt of clinical preventive services in women of reproductive age. Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health, 23(2), e109–e116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2012.12.006
Niraki, M. E. (2023). Gender-Based Violence and Intimate Partner Violence in Greece During the COVID–19 Pandemic. In International Conference on Gender Research, 6(1), 287-293.
NKVTS (2021). «Not worth telling the police”. Intimate partner violence that has not been reported. https://www.nkvts.no/english/report/not-worth-talking-to-police-about-violence-in-close-relationships-that-are-not-reported-to-the-police/
Oram, S., Fisher, H. L., Minnis, H., Seedat, S., Walby, S., Hegarty, K., Rouf, K., Angénieux, C., Callard, F., Chandra, P. S., Fazel, S., Garcia-Moreno, C., Henderson, M., Howarth, E., MacMillan, H. L., Murray, L. K., Othman, S., Robotham, D., Rondon, M. B., … Howard, L. M. (2022). The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on intimate partner violence and mental health: advancing mental health services, research, and policy. The Lancet. Psychiatry, 9(6), 487–524. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(22)00008-6
Reichel, D. (2017). Determinants of Intimate Partner Violence in Europe: The Role of Socioeconomic Status, Inequality, and Partner Behavior. Journal of interpersonal violence, 32(12), 1853–1873. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517698951
Stubbs, A., & Szoeke, C. (2022). The effect of intimate partner violence on the physical health and health-related behaviors of women: A systematic review of the literature. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 23(4), 1157–1172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838020985541
Violence against women prevalence estimates, 2018. (n.d.). Who.int. Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/341337/9789240022256-eng.pdf?sequence=1
Waltermaurer, E., Watson, C.-A., & McNutt, L.-A. (2006). Black Women’s Health: The Effect of Perceived Racism and Intimate Partner Violence. Violence Against Women, 12(12), 1214-1222. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801206293545
West, C. M. (2021). Widening the lens: Expanding the research on intimate partner violence in black communities. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2021.1919811
Wilkerson, J. M., Di Paola, A., Nieto, D., Schick, V., Latini, D. M., Braun-Harvey, D., Zoschke, I. N., & McCurdy, S. (2021). Sexual Violence and Chemsex among Substance-Using Sexual and Gender Minorities in Texas. Substance use & misuse, 56(14), 2141–2150. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2021.1975743
Williams, D. R. (2020). Measuring Discrimination Resource. Psychology, 2(3), 335-351. Retrieved from: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/davidrwilliams/files/discrimination_resource_dec._2020.pdf
World Health Organization. (2021). Violence against women prevalence estimates, 2018: Global, regional and national prevalence estimates for intimate partner violence against women and global and regional prevalence estimates for non-partner sexual violence against women. Executive summary. World Health Organization. Retrieved from: apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/77432/WHO_RHR_12.36_eng.pdf
