An international examination of the role of normative and cultural contexts on attitudinal support for intimate partner violence against wives

Abstract

This study analyzes World Values Survey data (individual N = 63,307; country N = 53) to examine individual and national factors that shape attitudinal support toward men’s physical violence against their wives. We assess how the national context conditions direct individual-level effects. Greater national support toward this form of intimate partner violence exerts a positive effect on individuals’ supportive intimate partner violence attitudes. Cultural orientations affect supportive intimate partner violence attitudes, but the direction depends on whether they are measured at the individual (negative effect) or national level (positive effect). Cross-level interactions reveal that national context moderates individual-level effects between cultural orientation and egalitarian gender attitudes with intimate partner violence supportive attitudes.