NCJ Number
212997
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 20 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2005 Pages: 363-371
Date Published
December 2005
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined how gender-role stereotypes influenced perceptions of heterosexual and same-sex domestic violence among college students.
Abstract
The findings suggest that the criminal justice system should have concerns that male perpetrators of domestic violence may be treated inequitably due to the influence of gender-role stereotypes on perceptions of the violent situation. The results were consistent with previous findings that indicated that individual’s drew on sex-stereotyped assumptions to assess the potential for harm in different types of domestic violence situations. Results showed that male-against-female violence was considered the most serious and most deserving of active intervention. In general, female victims were perceived as more vulnerable while male perpetrators were perceived as more threatening than their opposite-sex counterparts. Moreover, in this study victim sex was a more significant predictor of response to domestic violence than was victim sexual orientation. Participants were 112 female and 80 male undergraduate students who received course credit for reading 1 of 4 domestic violence cases that varied by victim and perpetrator sex and sexual orientation. After reading the scenario, participants completed a 27-item questionnaire concerning perceptions of personal and situation responsibility, including measures of incident seriousness, likelihood of victim injury, seriousness of victim injury, level of aggressiveness, and likelihood of future physical altercations. Figures, references