Education,Perception Factors,and Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence: Empirical Research on Chinese University Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes Concerning Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Research on perceptions and attitudes regarding intimate partner violence (IPV), a prominent predictor of IPV, is limited, and surveys on the relationships of the influencing factors are even rarer. Using a convenience sample of 2,057 students and assessed by the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale, this study explored Chinese university students’ perceptions and attitudes concerning IPV to improve IPV prevention programs. It focused on the existences of the different perceptions and attitudes regarding gender, residence, major, and age under the same condition of educational attainment. Significant gender differences were found, with female students possessing better perceptions, which indicated that with the same education levels, the perceptions of females were better than those of males. Significant differences were also found for the first time in the literature between science students and arts students, with the latter holding better attitudes. No significant differences were seen between students from rural areas and students from urban areas, suggesting that with the same educational attainment, there were no perception differences between rural and urban residents. No significant perception differences were found among freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, which revealed that neither university education nor urban life had a significant effect on perceptions and attitudes concerning IPV for students who had finished high school education. In conclusion, the results of the current study indicated that among the other factors such as gender, residence, and age, education was the most powerful factor influencing perceptions and attitudes concerning IPV.