A Statewide Survey of Reactions to Neighbors' Domestic Violence

Abstract

Researchers have indicated the importance of neighbors in reporting spouse abuse, but little is known of the extent of neighbors' awareness or whether they had informally provided respite to victims. It was hypothesized that those neighbors who would be more likely to place greater importance on relationships with neighbors would be more likely to have knowledge of spouse abuse and provide victim respite. A random telephone survey of Kentucky ( N = 650) found that 9.8% of the sample strongly suspected their neighbors' domestic violence and 4.9% had provided respite. The hypothesis relating demographic variables to importance of relationship to neighbors was only partially confirmed. These data indicate the need to further explore the role of neighbors in domestic violence, with an eye to establishing prevention and intervention programs with neighbors.