The Influence of Victim Gender on Perception of Economic Abuse

Intimate partner violence (IPV) consists of many subtypes, including physical, emotional, and economic abuse. Of IPV’s subtypes, economic abuse is the least studied, yet it is one of the most prevalent. To remedy this imbalance, in this study we examined individuals’ perceptions of economic abuse toward female and male victims. Participants were given one of two scenarios depicting a heterosexual couple with either the female or the male being the victim of the economic abuse. We measured participants’ likelihood to blame the victim and minimize the abuse. Gender role ideology was also measured as a predictor variable. We found that economic abuse perpetuated by a female was minimized more than abuse perpetuated by a male and that male victims were blamed more than female victims. Male participants were more likely to blame the victim and minimize the abuse than female participants in both scenarios. Finally, hostile sexism was a significant predictor for both blame and minimization.