Male and female physical intimate partner violence and socio-economic position: a cross-sectional international multicentre study in Europe.
OBJECTIVE
This work explores the association between socio-economic position (SEP) and intimate partner violence (IPV) considering the perspectives of men and women as victims, perpetrators and as both (bidirectional).


METHODS
Cross-sectional international multicentre study.


METHODS
A sample of 3496 men and women, (aged 18-64 years), randomly selected from the general population of residents from six European cities was assessed: Athens; Budapest; London; Östersund; Porto; and Stuttgart. Their education (primary, secondary and university), occupation (upper white collar, lower white collar and blue collar) and unemployment duration (never, ≤12 months and >12 months) were considered as SEP indicators and physical IPV was measured with the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales.


RESULTS
Past year physical IPV was declared by 17.7% of women (3.5% victims, 4.2% perpetrators and 10.0% bidirectional) and 19.8% of men (4.1% victims, 3.8% perpetrators and 11.9% bidirectional). Low educational level (primary vs university) was associated with female victimisation (adjusted odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 3.2; 1.3-8.0) and with female bidirectional IPV (4.1, 2.4-7.1). Blue collar occupation (vs upper white) was associated with female victimisation (2.1, 1.1-4.0), female perpetration (3.0, 1.3-6.8) and female bidirectional IPV (4.0, 2.3-7.0). Unemployment duration was associated with male perpetration (>12 months of unemployment vs never unemployed: 3.8; 1.7-8.7) and with bidirectional IPV in both sex (women: 1.8, 1.2-2.7; men: 1.7, 1.0-2.8).


CONCLUSIONS
In these European centres, physical IPV was associated with a disadvantaged SEP. A consistent socio-economic gradient was observed in female bidirectional involvement, but victims or perpetrators-only presented gender specificities according to levels of education, occupation differentiation and unemployment duration potentially useful for designing interventions.
EPIUnit: Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Predictive Medicine and Public Health, University of Porto Medical School, Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: dmcosta@med.up.pt.
D
D
Costa
School of Public Health, Midwifery and Social Work, Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Canterbury Christ Church University, United Kingdom.
E
E
Hatzidimitriadou
Department of Sociology, National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece.
E
E
Ioannidi-Kapolou
University of Applied Sciences Emden, Emden, Germany; WRSC, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA.
J
J
Lindert
Institution for Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden.
J J F
JJF
Soares
Department of Psychology, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden.
Ö
Ö
Sundin
Institute of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
O
O
Toth
EPIUnit: Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Predictive Medicine and Public Health, University of Porto Medical School, Porto, Portugal.
H
H
Barros
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000066550:Physical Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012923:Social Class; D055815:Young Adult
Gender; Social inequalities; Violence