Gender Role Attitudes and Attribution of Blame for Spousal Violence in Married Men and Women

Abstract

The present research aimed at investigating the effects of gender role attitudes on attribution of blame for spousal violence in married men and women. Spousal Violence Blame Questionnaire (SVBQ) was developed which was based on 12 visual scenarios of spousal incidents; scenario opinion questionnaire; and background information/ story cards. A sample of 120 married participants (60 men, 60 women) with age ranging from 20 to 62 years (M=35.63) was administered by Gender Role Attitude Scale (Kamal &
Saqib, 2004), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Naseer, 2000) and SVBQ. Experimental group was given the background story before presenting video clips, whereas the control group was shown the clips without the background story. Experimental group attributed significantly more blame towards the victim in a spousal violence incident as compared to the control group. Participants considered an incident as spousal violence in case of physical violence scenarios but they did not take it as violence in case of non-physical
violence.