Abstract
Drawing on social disorganization theory, the current study examined the extent to which community-level poverty rates and collective efficacy influenced individual reports of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, victimization, and bystander intervention among a sample of 178 young adults (18–24; 67.4 % women) from 16 rural counties across the eastern US who completed an online survey that assessed demographic information, IPV perpetration, victimization, bystander intervention, and collective efficacy. We computed each county’s poverty rate from the 2007–2011 American Community Survey. Generalized estimating equations demonstrated that after controlling for individual-level income status, community-level poverty positively predicted IPV victimization and perpetration for both men and women. Collective efficacy was inversely related to IPV victimization and perpetration for men; however, collective efficacy was unrelated to IPV victimization and perpetration for women. Whereas IPV bystander intervention was positively related to collective efficacy and inversely related to individual-level income status for both men and women, community-level poverty was unrelated to IPV bystander intervention for both men and women. Overall, these findings provide some support for social disorganization theory in explaining IPV among rural young adults, and underscore the importance of multi-level IPV prevention and intervention efforts focused around community-capacity building and enhancement of collective efficacy.
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Acknowledgments
Funding for this project was provided by the University of New Hampshire’s College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Office and the Department of Psychology, as well as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg foundation, and anonymous donors. We would like to thank all of the young adults who participated in this study. We would also like to thank Kateryna Sylaska, Kayleigh Greaney, Ryan Hebert, Valerie Gauthier, Samantha Harkey, Hannah Feintuch, Kasey Lynch, Jordan Strand, and Jennifer Clayton for their assistance with participant recruitment efforts and data management as well as the many individuals, agencies, organizations, and businesses that assisted us in recruiting participants for this study. Finally, we would like to express appreciation to Matthew Price and Mackenzie Harms for their assistance with data analyses.
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Edwards, K.M., Mattingly, M.J., Dixon, K.J. et al. Community Matters: Intimate Partner Violence Among Rural Young Adults. Am J Community Psychol 53, 198–207 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9633-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9633-7