Perpetrating Cyber Intimate Partner Violence: The Role of Gender and Culture in an Israeli Sample

ABSTRACT

Cyber intimate partner violence (CIPV) is a multidimensional phenomenon which encompasses online forms of psychological aggression, sexual aggression, and stalking-like behaviors. The study’s aims were to examine CIPV rates and to determine whether there were differences according to gender and culture. The study was conducted among a representative sample of 894 young-adult Jewish and Arab men and women in Israel. Results showed that about 20% of the sample perpetrated some type of CIPV, a lower rate than that which has been found among this sample’s international counterparts. In addition, cyberstalking was the type used most prevalently, with men using a greater number of CIPV behaviors than did women. Furthermore, Arab men used a greater number of CIPV behaviors than did Arab women, Jewish men, or Jewish women. Jewish women and Arab men used the highest number of aggressive behaviors in the context of cyberstalking. Our analysis indicates that Arab men would be more likely than the other subgroups in this study to perpetrate CIPV behaviors. As such, it is essential that we focus on groups most likely to perpetrate these behaviors, in accordance with culture and gender, and on raising awareness of CIPV in general and cyberstalking via educational/preventive programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyber dating violence
• cyber intimate partner violence
• cultural differences
• digital media
• gender

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

“all procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [Bar Ilan University, Israel] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.” Approval for the study from the ethics board number 031906; May 2019).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Israeli Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology;

Notes on contributors

Orit Nuttman-Shwartz

Orit Nuttman-Shwartz, Ph.D., MSW. & GA., is a Full Professor at the School of Social Work at Sapir College, Israel and the The Israeli National Representative in the IASSW Board of Directors.

Rachel Dekel

Rachel Dekel, Ph.D., & MSW., is a Full Professor at the Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work at Bar-Ilan University, a member of the Israeli Excellence Center (I-CORE) of mass trauma and the academic head of the International School at Bar-Ilan, Israel.

Ohad Gilbar

Ohad Gilbar, Ph.D., & MSW, the Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

Ruby Charak

Ruby Charak, Ph.D., is a Clinical and Developmental Psychology at the Department of Psychological Science, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Texas, USA.