The relationship between domestic violence and the attitudes of women towards honor, gender roles, and wife-beating in Turkey

Purpose: Violence against women (VAM) is still considered a global health problem and is highly prevalent in Turkey. This study aimed to determine the relationship between women's exposure to spousal/partner violence and their attitudes towards honor, social gender roles, and beating in Turkey. Methods: The study was designed as descriptive and completed with 847 women in Turkey. Data were collected with a questionnaire, the Attitudes towards Honor Scale (AHS), the Attitudes towards Wife-beating Scale (ATWB), and the Gender Roles Attitudes Scale (GRA). Results: The median age of the women was 34 (18–67) years. It was found that 23% of the women were exposed to physical violence, 46.8% to verbal violence, 33.6% to emotional violence, 21.1% to sexual abuse, and 13% to economic violence. There was a negative relationship between GRA score and ATWB and AHS scores. It was determined that the attitude of an individual towards social gender posed a risk for physical (p = 0.037) and sexual violence (p = 0.037), the attitude towards honor posed a risk for sexual violence (p = 0.002), and that the attitude towards wife-beating posed a risk for all types of violence including physical, verbal, emotional, sexual, and economic violence (p < 0.001). Conclusions: As women's egalitarian attitudes towards social gender increased, their approving attitudes towards wife-beating, supervision of women by their family members, and their association with family honor decreased. Community-based interventions that promote egalitarian social gender roles could reduce VAM in this community.