Thai Police Officers’ Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence and Victim Blaming: The Influence of Sexism and Female Gender Roles

Abstract

Police officers are typically the first responders when victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) report abuse. Therefore, police officers’ attitudes toward IPV and victim blaming are crucial. This study aimed to observe how police officers’ sexist attitudes affect their perspectives on IPV and their victim-blaming attitudes, depending on the gender role exhibited by the victim. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory was used to classify 139 Thai male police officers into four groups of sexism: hostile sexist, benevolent sexist, ambivalent sexist, and nonsexist. Then, the participants were randomly assigned to watch a simulation video, in which a victim of IPV filed a report after being abused by her husband. There were two versions of the video, one in which the victim played a traditional gender role and the other a nontraditional role. Multivariate analysis of variance was employed for data analysis. The results demonstrated statistically significant effects of ambivalent sexism and victim’s gender role on attitudes toward IPV and victim blaming. This study contributes to the growing body of research on police officers’ performances in the context of IPV in Thailand and contributes to existing scholarship. It provides Thai police precincts with information that can equip them to develop new sensitivity training programs and can help legislators improve the effectiveness of victim protection acts.