Blaming Victims in Cases of Interpersonal Violence: Attitudes Associated With Assigning Blame to Female Victims

Abstract

Research on blaming victims of female interpersonal violence (IPV) has evolved over the past 25 to 30 years, though often in a piecemeal fashion. Studies often blend attitudes toward women, justification for IPV, and blame in various ways depending on the instrument and/or scale being used. The current study isolates these variables more specifically to determine the unique effects attitudes toward women and justification have on blaming female victims of IPV. It also adds a new dimension by exploring general victim-blaming views that are not specifically related to IPV to determine whether this variable plays a role in assigning blame to victims of IPV. Implications for educational programming also are discussed.

Keywords:

• attitudes toward women
• dating violence
• interpersonal violence
• intimate partner violence
• justification of interpersonal violence
• perceptions of blame
• victim blame

Notes

This review focuses on studies including samples drawn from the United States.