Women’s Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence in Turkey: The Role of Leisure Activities, Religiosity, and Patriarchy

Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is an essential social and health problem worldwide and attitudes toward IPV are one of the important factors related to this issue. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of factors including social activities involvement, religiosity, and patriarchal ideology on attitudes toward IPV. Based on literature related to these factors three hypotheses were developed to test by the 2013-Turkey Demographic and Health Survey which includes a sample of 8847 women. Findings from a number of logistic regression models demonstrate that participation in leisure activities decreases the acceptance of IPV. On the contrary, an increase in personal religiosity and women’s patriarchal beliefs enhances the justification of IPV among women. Among social-demographic characteristics, education and household wealth seem to be important factors preventing the approval of IPV. The findings of the study are discussed in the context of the social and cultural background of Turkey.