- 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A1S6, Canada
Dr. Alexandra Lysova
Simon Fraser University, Criminology, Faculty Member
- I'm a criminology professor who studies intimate partner violence, overlapping male and female offending and victimiz... moreI'm a criminology professor who studies intimate partner violence, overlapping male and female offending and victimization, and homicide statistics. I'm involved in several international projects that focus on male victims of intimate partner violence.edit
There is a dearth of research on the relation of men’s cumulative experiences of nonintimate victimization (polyvictimization) to their victimization in intimate relationships. This study examines the association between nonintimate... more
There is a dearth of research on the relation of men’s cumulative experiences of nonintimate victimization (polyvictimization) to their victimization in intimate relationships. This study examines the association between nonintimate polyvictimization (including being abused as a child, cyberbullied, stalked, physically assaulted, and experiencing property crime) and the severity of intimate partner violence victimization in men. The sample of 8,784 men in current married/common-law relationships was drawn from a random sample of the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey. About 3% of the men (an estimate of about 265,000 men in Canada) experienced the most severe forms of partner abuse, including the combination of emotional abuse and controlling behaviors, physical violence, and the resulted injuries. Among these severely abused men, about one-third were polyvictims. As expected, a nonintimate polyvictimization predicted the increased severity of male partner abuse victimization, cont...
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Purpose: Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) is generally focused on female survivors. However, in Canada, about half of all self-reported victims of IPV are men and 1 in 5 calls to police for domestic violence are for male... more
Purpose: Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) is generally focused on female survivors. However, in Canada, about half of all self-reported victims of IPV are men and 1 in 5 calls to police for domestic violence are for male victims. This paper takes a comparative approach to understanding survivors’ experiences of IPV. Methods: Across Canada, 110 female and 45 male survivors of IPV were recruited through media, social media, and listservs for a survey and interviews in 2017. Results: Findings indicate areas of similarity (healthcare needs; difficulty accessing formal support; fear of false accusations) and areas of difference (availability of formal support; types of violence experienced most often; interactions with the justice system). Women and men reported similar types of IPV, with women experiencing higher rates of sexual violence, stalking, and damage to property. Women and men reported similar physical and mental health consequences following IPV. Men were less satisfied than women with the response of the justice system, and both female and male participants encountered gender bias within the justice system. Some women reported being turned away from services that were at their maximum capacity, and men reported difficulty identifying IPV-related services for male survivors. Conclusions: Findings can be used by frontline service providers and the justice system to ensure that services are gender inclusive and gender-sensitive.
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Although intimate partner violence (IPV), also known as domestic violence, is a set of heterogeneous phenomena, with various causes, dynamics, and consequences, some forms of IPV, known as battering or coercive-controlling violence, can... more
Although intimate partner violence (IPV), also known as domestic violence, is a set of heterogeneous phenomena, with various causes, dynamics, and consequences, some forms of IPV, known as battering or coercive-controlling violence, can have a profound physical and psychological impact on victims. At the extreme end of these phenomena is intimate partner homicide (IPH), a crime that has been poorly understood and politicized. Attorneys, judges, and juries are asked to adjudicate a crime committed among intimate partners, a context that challenges traditional forms of jurisprudence and invites confusion and politicization. This review examines the causal and motivational factors for IPH in light of the scholarly research literature. It provides a critique of the battered person syndrome, routinely invoked by defense attorneys, particularly in cases involving female suspects. The role of perpetrator sex and gender is also examined.
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While we have learnt much in the last forty years about the prevalence of and risk factors for violence perpetrated by individual men and women in their intimate relationships, little research has focused on the interaction between... more
While we have learnt much in the last forty years about the prevalence of and risk factors for violence perpetrated by individual men and women in their intimate relationships, little research has focused on the interaction between intimate partners within a violent situation. I argue that given the complex nature of intimate relationships and intertwining roles, behaviours, and emotions of both partners, examining the couple’s interaction -rather than the disconnected behaviours of individual men or women -can provide a deeper understanding of and new insights into the process of violence between intimate partners. Using a sample of 295 violent incidents reported by 135 incarcerated women, I explore the interactional aspects of violence in the incidents from a violent events perspective. Identifying and drawing on different dimensions of violent dynamics, e.g., initiation of violence, reaction to initial violence, the use of violence in the entire incident, and injuries to partners...
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This qualitative study explores the experiences of men who self-report victimization from a female intimate partner in four English-speaking countries. Forty-one men who reported any type of intimate partner abuse (IPA) from a female... more
This qualitative study explores the experiences of men who self-report victimization from a female intimate partner in four English-speaking countries. Forty-one men who reported any type of intimate partner abuse (IPA) from a female partner were recruited via targeted advertising in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Twelve online focus groups were conducted across countries using a phenomenologically informed design. Thematic analysis was carried out from an inductive and realist epistemological position and themes identified at a semantic level. This approach was taken to directly reflect the men’s experiences and perspectives, ensuring the voices of this hard-to-reach and overlooked population were heard. Three themes were identified across the countries: an imbalanced experience of harm; living with sustained abuse; and knowledge is power for men experiencing IPA. It was found that most participants underwent physical harm in the context of coercive c...
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Homicide statistics are often seen as the most reliable and comparable indicator of violent deaths around the world. However, the analysis of Russian homicide statistics challenges this understanding and suggests that international... more
Homicide statistics are often seen as the most reliable and comparable indicator of violent deaths around the world. However, the analysis of Russian homicide statistics challenges this understanding and suggests that international comparisons of homicide levels can be hazardous. Drawing on an institutionalist perspective on crime statistics, official crime-based homicide statistics in Russia are approached as a social construct, a performance indicator and a tool of governance. The paper discusses several incentives to misrepresent official homicide data in contemporary Russia, including politicization of homicide statistics as a legacy of the Soviet’ era’s falsified crime statistics and the role of policing. Mainly, the paper identifies and describes the exact legal, statistical and country-specific substantive mechanisms that allow homicide statistics to be distorted in Russia. By considering legal mechanisms alone, the more accurate homicide rate may be at least 1.6 times higher...
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This study examined the elevated risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) among persons with mental health-related disabilities (MH-RD) and the extent to which known risk factors accounted for this phenomenon. Data were drawn from a... more
This study examined the elevated risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) among persons with mental health-related disabilities (MH-RD) and the extent to which known risk factors accounted for this phenomenon. Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of 33,127 Canadians collected in 2014 as part of Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey. Results showed that respondents with MH-RD had more than three-fold increased odds of both overall and severe IPV victimization. Although females were more likely to possess a MH-RD, males and females with MH-RD reported similarly elevated odds of IPV victimization. Risk factors that contributed to a significant reduction in elevated odds of IPV for respondents with MH-RD were child maltreatment (CM), respondents’ nonprescription drug abuse, and perpetrators’ jealous, monitoring, and socially isolating behaviors. The inability to test additional risk factors and bidirectionality in the relationship between MH-RD and IPV may have con...
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The criminal justice system plays a pivotal role in addressing the safety of victims of intimate partner abuse (IPA). Over the past 40 years, most changes in the criminal justice response to IPA have been made with the intention of... more
The criminal justice system plays a pivotal role in addressing the safety of victims of intimate partner abuse (IPA). Over the past 40 years, most changes in the criminal justice response to IPA have been made with the intention of improving support to abused women and their children. However, a growing body of research shows there are many men who are victims of IPA. This qualitative study explored the help-seeking experiences of 38 abused men within the criminal justice system in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Twelve online focus groups (three in each country) were conducted and themes were identified inductively at a semantic level. Thematic analysis identified that most of their experiences were negative and reflected the gender paradigm embedded in the criminal justice response. This study offers insights into the relevance of a gender-inclusive criminal justice response in addressing IPA.
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This study examined the severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by men in their ongoing relationships and their help-seeking behavior with the criminal justice system and other professional agencies. This study also... more
This study examined the severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by men in their ongoing relationships and their help-seeking behavior with the criminal justice system and other professional agencies. This study also examined the extent to which socio-demographic variables predicted formal help seeking among male victims of IPV. Data were drawn from 2009 and 2014 cycles of the Canadian General Social Survey on Victimization with a nationally representative sample of 52,400 respondents. It is estimated that about 655,400 men in Canada reported having experienced physical and/or sexual victimization due to IPV in married/common-law relationships at the time of the surveys between 2004 and 2014. The latent class analysis generated four types of IPV victimization among men. Among male victims of physical and/or sexual IPV, about 64,000 men experienced the most severe type of IPV characterized by chronic and severe physical and psychological violence with a high probabilit...
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Research shows that the experiences of male victims of partner abuse (PA) are often denied by the public and the professionals who are charged to support PA victims. Recruiting female victims for research on PA victimization is relatively... more
Research shows that the experiences of male victims of partner abuse (PA) are often denied by the public and the professionals who are charged to support PA victims. Recruiting female victims for research on PA victimization is relatively easy because there are existing structures to serve this group of victims. Thus, male victims are considered a hard-to-reach (HTR) population, and studying them can be difficult. This article focuses on the use of technology to collect qualitative data from male PA victims in an international study focusing on male victims. The researchers used their own professional networks to recruit and screen a convenience sample of male victims of female-to-male PA, in four different English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, England, and the United States. Four web-based, video-enabled, focus groups were held for each country-for a total of 12 groups and 41 male participants. This article addresses recruitment methods, the use of technology in data colle...
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There is a shortage of research that examines experiences of partner violence (PV) among high-risk, incarcerated women using a situational perspective. This study uses a “violent event perspective” and data from the Canadian-Based Women’s... more
There is a shortage of research that examines experiences of partner violence (PV) among high-risk, incarcerated women using a situational perspective. This study uses a “violent event perspective” and data from the Canadian-Based Women’s Experiences of Violence study to examine the sequential actions of intimate partners in a violent event. It also identifies the types of violent events based on women’s involvement in the incidents of severe PV. A total of 135 incarcerated women reported 295 incidents of severe violence with a partner. Findings suggest that PV experiences of women in this clinical sample are highly heterogeneous but mostly represent extreme forms of both victimization and perpetration. This study also identifies the heterogeneity of the types of PV events by providing insight into novel forms of violent dynamics.
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This article reports data from three Russian sites of the International Dating Violence Study. Using a sample of 338 university students (54% female) from three Russian university sites, four different types of partner violence are... more
This article reports data from three Russian sites of the International Dating Violence Study. Using a sample of 338 university students (54% female) from three Russian university sites, four different types of partner violence are examined: physical assault, physical injury, sexual coercion, and psychological aggression. High prevalence rates were found for all types of violence, aggression, and coercion. Consistent with previous research, male and female students were about equally likely to be victims and perpetrators of all violent and aggressive actions. Recommendations for prevention are made in the conclusions.
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... University, Russia Svetlana Saklakova, Altai University, Russia Dmitry Shestakov, St. ... In the group of men aged 15-49, the lifelong rate of physical abuse was 3.4%, in the last year 2%. The Reproductive Health Survey (Serbanescu,... more
... University, Russia Svetlana Saklakova, Altai University, Russia Dmitry Shestakov, St. ... In the group of men aged 15-49, the lifelong rate of physical abuse was 3.4%, in the last year 2%. The Reproductive Health Survey (Serbanescu, Morris, & Marin, 2001) measured 8 violent acts ...
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Research Interests: Psychology, Alcohol Studies, Adolescent, Comorbidity, Russia, and 15 moreAntisocial Personality Disorder, Aggressive Behavior, Humans, Aggression, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Female, Male, Regression Analysis, Risk factors, Adult, Binge drinking, Alcohol and Violence, Risk Factors, and Cross Sectional Studies
This qualitative study explores internal and external barriers to help seeking among 41 men from four English-speaking countries who self-reported victimization from a female intimate partner. Twelve online focus groups were conducted and... more
This qualitative study explores internal and external barriers to help seeking among 41 men from four English-speaking countries who self-reported victimization from a female intimate partner. Twelve online focus groups were conducted and themes were identified inductively at a semantic level. Six identified themes represented four internal (blind to the abuse, maintaining relationships, male roles, and excuses) and two external barriers to help seeking (fear of seeking help and nowhere to go). Most participants who avoided seeking help did so due to their own lack of recognition of abuse and ability to assess their risk of harm, attempts to keep the family intact, masculine stereotypes, and excuses for their partner’s abuse. Some men who expressed an interest in seeking help were discouraged from it due to fear for their personal safety, a potential revictimization in the legal system, and the lack of support services available to men. This research suggests that the individuals wh...
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Intimate partner abuse (IPA) carries severe physical and psychological consequences for victims, and the police and courts are some of the essential formal structures that help victims address their victimization. Studies suggest that... more
Intimate partner abuse (IPA) carries severe physical and psychological consequences for victims, and the police and courts are some of the essential formal structures that help victims address their victimization. Studies suggest that male victims of IPA are reluctant to speak about or report their victimization to the police. This qualitative study examines the experiences male victims of IPA had with the criminal justice system (i.e., the courts and police). We conducted interviews with 16 men who had experienced IPA in their previous relationship in Canada. Two major themes about the police response were identified: the barriers to contacting the police for help and negative experiences with the police response. We found that men who chose not to contact the police did it due to the negative expectations of being ridiculed by the police, not being believed, and fear of being arrested. Those men who called the police for help reported unfriendly and antagonistic police treatment a...
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Media research on intimate partner homicide (IPH) has primarily focused on male perpetrators and female victims. This study analyzed 203 English-language news articles of IPH involving male victims and female perpetrators for the year... more
Media research on intimate partner homicide (IPH) has primarily focused on male perpetrators and female victims. This study analyzed 203 English-language news articles of IPH involving male victims and female perpetrators for the year 2019. Using thematic analysis, we identified two main themes: doubting the victim (who is the victim?) and victim recognition (“he didn’t deserve this”). The findings suggest that male victims of female perpetrated IPH tend to be blamed for their victimization and represented as non-ideal and illegitimate victims in the news media.
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This article is devoted to the statistical analysis of security and safety frequency in the context of categories connected with social institutions and personality features in research works from 2004–2019. Research was based on the... more
This article is devoted to the statistical analysis of security and safety frequency in the context of categories connected with social institutions and personality features in research works from 2004–2019. Research was based on the following methods: quantitative analysis of safety frequency in the context with coded “categories” related to social institutions and personality features; analysis was conducted with computer-assisted content analysis QDA Miner Lite v. 1.4 and Fisher’s F-test. An analysis of 1157 works showed that the terms “security” and “safety” were quantitatively more frequent when used with concepts related to social institutions than with concepts related to personality features. In our opinion, this qualitative trend shows the prevailing significance of social aspects of security over its personal (psychological) traits for research analysis and practical social aspects. The priority usage of the terms “security” and “safety” can be related to the securitizatio...
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Restorative justice (RJ), which is a concept of criminal justice focused on the needs of victims and the community affected by the criminal act rather than on the punishment of the offender, is becoming an integral part of criminal... more
Restorative justice (RJ), which is a concept of criminal justice focused on the needs of victims and the community affected by the criminal act rather than on the punishment of the offender, is becoming an integral part of criminal justice in many developed Western countries. Russia, however, is just taking the first steps in the development of restorative justice with the focus on mediation for juvenile delinquents. Using the theory of the (de)civilization process by N. Elias, the authors suggest that a weak state, characterized not so much by inefficient economy as by underdeveloped social institutes, could be an obstacle for a more active use of RJ in Russia. Specifically, the authors claim that corruption undermining the legitimacy of public administration, a lack of trust in law enforcement, suppression of small business and hatred towards some groups of people all strengthen punitive sentiments that contradict the principles of RJ. A comparative criminological analysis of RJ i...
National victimization surveys that conceptualize intimate partner violence (IPV) as crime can contribute to a better understanding of the most severe forms of victimization in the intimate partner relationship. Based on the 2014 Canadian... more
National victimization surveys that conceptualize intimate partner violence (IPV) as crime can contribute to a better understanding of the most severe forms of victimization in the intimate partner relationship. Based on the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey on Victimization, this study examined the prevalence of victimization resulted from physical and/or sexual IPV, controlling behaviors and also consequences of IPV for both men and women in a sample representative of the Canadian population. Given the paucity of research on male victims of IPV at the national population level, this article specifically discussed the experiences of men who reported violence perpetrated by their female intimate partners. Results showed that 2.9% of men and 1.7% of women reported experiencing physical and/or sexual IPV in their current relationships in the last 5 years. In addition, 35% of male and 34% of female victims of IPV experienced high controlling behaviors—the most severe type of abuse kn...
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Despite growing evidence suggesting diverse manifestations of partner violence (PV) perpetrated by both men and women, a ‘violence against women’ perspective still appears to dominate theory, research, and policy responses. This article... more
Despite growing evidence suggesting diverse manifestations of partner violence (PV) perpetrated by both men and women, a ‘violence against women’ perspective still appears to dominate theory, research, and policy responses. This article emphasizes the complexity of PV and argues that it can be embraced through the integration of contextual approaches. This can be done by (1) conceptualizing PV as a gender-inclusive, dynamic, and multidimensional phenomenon; (2) applying a violent events perspective to measuring the dynamics of violence in relationships; and (3) promoting a transformative change at the level of social policy that would embrace both women’s and men’s diverse experiences of PV, and thus achieve equality-based justice.
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Research Interests:
There is a shortage of research that examines experiences of partner violence (PV) among high-risk, incarcerated women using a situational perspective. This study uses a “violent event perspective” and data from the Canadian-Based Women’s... more
There is a shortage of research that examines experiences of partner violence (PV) among high-risk, incarcerated women using a situational perspective. This study uses a “violent event perspective” and data from the Canadian-Based Women’s Experiences of Violence study to examine the sequential actions of intimate partners in a violent event. It also identifies the types of violent events based on women’s involvement in the incidents of severe PV. A total of 135 incarcerated women reported 295 incidents of severe violence with a partner. Findings suggest that PV experiences of women in this clinical sample are highly heterogeneous but mostly represent extreme forms of both victimization and perpetration. This study also identifies the heterogeneity of the types of PV events by providing insight into novel forms of violent dynamics.
Research Interests:
Homicide statistics are often seen as the most reliable and comparable indicator of violent deaths around the world. However, the analysis of Russian homicide statistics challenges this understanding and suggests that international... more
Homicide statistics are often seen as the most reliable and comparable indicator of violent deaths around the world. However, the analysis of Russian homicide statistics challenges this understanding and suggests that international comparisons of homicide levels can be hazardous. Drawing on an institutionalist perspective on crime statistics, official crime-based homicide statistics in Russia are approached as a social construct, a performance indicator and a tool of governance. The paper discusses several incentives to misrepresent official homicide data in contemporary Russia, including politicization of homicide statistics as a legacy of the Soviet’ era’s falsified crime statistics and the role of policing. Mainly, the paper identifies and describes the exact legal, statistical and country-specific substantive mechanisms that allow homicide statistics to be distorted in Russia. By considering legal mechanisms alone, the more accurate homicide rate may be at least 1.6 times higher than that reported in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Study on Homicide 2013.
Research Interests:
National victimization surveys that conceptualize intimate partner violence (IPV) as crime can contribute to a better understanding of the most severe forms of victimization in the intimate partner relationship. Based on the 2014 Canadian... more
National victimization surveys that conceptualize intimate partner violence (IPV) as crime can contribute to a better understanding of the most severe forms of victimization in the intimate partner relationship. Based on the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey on Victimization, this study examined the prevalence of victimization resulted from physical and/or sexual IPV, controlling behaviors and also consequences of IPV for both men and women in a sample representative of the Canadian population. Given the paucity of research on male victims of IPV at the national population level, this article specifically discussed the experiences of men who reported violence perpetrated by their female intimate partners. Results showed that 2.9% of men and 1.7% of women reported experiencing physical and/or sexual IPV in their current relationships in the last 5 years. In addition, 35% of male and 34% of female victims of IPV experienced high controlling behaviors—the most severe type of abuse known as intimate terrorism. Moreover, 22% of male victims and 19% of female victims of IPV were found to have experienced severe physical violence along with high controlling behaviors. Although female victims significantly more often than male victims reported the injuries and short-term emotional effects of IPV (e.g., fear, depression, anger), there was no significant difference in the experience of the most long-term effects of spousal trauma—posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related symptoms. This article argues that future research should explain the increased gap in reporting of the IPV victimization among men compared to women.
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Cultural spillover theory asserts that the prevalence of socially legitimate violence to attain ends for which there is widespread social approval is part of the explanation for the prevalence of illegitimate violence. This study was a... more
Cultural spillover theory asserts that the prevalence of socially legitimate violence to attain ends for which there is widespread social approval is part of the explanation for the prevalence of illegitimate violence. This study was a test of the cultural spillover theory as it applies to intimate partner violence (IPV). Based on data from the International Dating Violence Study (IDVS) in 32 countries, we tested the proposition that agreement with socially approved forms of violence “spills over” into violence against an intimate partner. Two versions of an index to measure legitimate violence were constructed: (a) An individual-level legitimate violence index based on the beliefs and behavior of 14,252 university students in 32 nations in the IDVS and (b) a nation-level legitimate violence index consisting of the mean of the student scores on the legitimate violence index for each of the 32 nations in the IDVS. We used the revised Conflict Tactics Scales to obtain the data on physical violence and injuries inflicted by the students in the IDVS. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypothesized relation of the individual student legitimate violence index to IPV. Socioeconomic status, limited disclosure scale, respondent’s age, and length of the relationships were included as covariates. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to further investigate the associations between legitimate violence index obtained from the aggregated student data and the nation-level IPV, controlling for the gross domestic product (GDP) index and limited disclosure scale. Both individual- and nation-level analyses consistently supported cultural spillover theory’s explanation of IPV. The association between legitimate violence and IPV at both levels of analysis was stronger for women than men, which is consistent with some previous studies. The results suggest that reducing legitimate violence can make an important contribution to reducing IPV.
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This study examined the elevated risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) among persons with mental health-related disabilities (MH-RD) and the extent to which known risk factors accounted for this phenomenon. Data were drawn from a... more
This study examined the elevated risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) among persons with mental health-related disabilities (MH-RD) and the extent to which known risk factors accounted for this phenomenon. Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of 33,127 Canadians collected in 2014 as part of Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey. Results showed that respondents with MH-RD had more than three-fold increased odds of both overall and severe IPV victimization. Although females were more likely to possess a MH-RD, males and females with MH-RD reported similarly elevated odds of IPV victimization. Risk factors that contributed to a significant reduction in elevated odds of IPV for respondents with MH-RD were child maltreatment (CM), respondents’ nonprescription drug abuse, and perpetrators’ jealous, monitoring, and socially isolating behaviors. The inability to test additional risk factors and bidirectionality in the relationship between MH-RD and IPV may have contributed to the failure to fully account for these respondents’ elevated odds of IPV. Future research is needed to understand the complex mechanisms contributing to the elevated risk of IPV and enhance prevention and intervention strategies for this underresearched and underserved vulnerable population.
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This qualitative study explores internal and external barriers to help seeking among 41 men from four English-speaking countries who self-reported victimization from a female intimate partner. Twelve online focus groups were conducted and... more
This qualitative study explores internal and external barriers to help seeking among 41 men from four English-speaking countries who self-reported victimization from a female intimate partner. Twelve online focus groups were conducted and themes were identified inductively at a semantic level. Six identified themes represented four internal (blind to the abuse, maintaining relationships, male roles, and excuses) and two external barriers to help seeking (fear of seeking help and nowhere to go). Most participants who avoided seeking help did so due to their own lack of recognition of abuse and ability to assess their risk of harm, attempts to keep the family intact, masculine stereotypes, and excuses for their partner’s abuse. Some men who expressed an interest in seeking help were discouraged from it due to fear for their personal safety, a potential revictimization in the legal system, and the lack of support services available to men. This research suggests that the individuals who are abused in relationships, service providers, and the public at large could benefit from professional training about gender inclusive approaches to intimate partner abuse.
Research Interests:
This study examined the severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by men in their ongoing relationships and their help-seeking behavior with the criminal justice system and other professional agencies. This study also... more
This study examined the severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by men in their ongoing relationships and their help-seeking behavior with the criminal justice system and other professional agencies. This study also examined the extent to which socio-demographic variables predicted formal help seeking among male victims of IPV. Data were drawn from 2009 and 2014 cycles of the Canadian General Social Survey on Victimization with a nationally representative sample of 52,400 respondents. It is estimated that about 655,400 men in Canada reported having experienced physical and/or sexual victimization due to IPV in married/common-law relationships at the time of the surveys between 2004 and 2014. The latent class analysis generated four types of IPV victimization among men. Among male victims of physical and/or sexual IPV, about 64,000 men experienced the most severe type of IPV characterized by chronic and severe physical and psychological violence with a high probability of injuries and negative emotional effects of IPV. Although most of the male victims of IPV did not seek formal help (e.g., did not contact the police and IPV services), the severity of experienced violence was associated with the increased use of formal services. Some structural factors, such as being unemployed and residing with young children, were found to be substantial barriers to contacting formal agencies for help. Our findings highlight the need for the development of gender-inclusive and gender-sensitive public policy and intervention programs that help all victims of IPV regardless of victim gender.
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The criminal justice system plays a pivotal role in addressing the safety of victims of intimate partner abuse (IPA). Over the past 40 years, most changes in the criminal justice response to IPA have been made with the intention of... more
The criminal justice system plays a pivotal role in addressing the safety of victims of intimate partner abuse (IPA). Over the past 40 years, most changes in the criminal justice response to IPA have been made with the intention of improving support to abused women and their children. However, a growing body of research shows there are many men who are victims of IPA. This qualitative study explored the help-seeking experiences of 38 abused men within the criminal justice system in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Twelve online focus groups (three in each country) were conducted and themes were identified inductively at a semantic level. Thematic analysis identified that most of their experiences were negative and reflected the gender paradigm embedded in the criminal justice response. This study offers insights into the relevance of a gender-inclusive criminal justice response in addressing IPA.
Research Interests:
Despite growing evidence suggesting diverse manifestations of partner violence (PV) perpetrated by both men and women, a ‘violence against women’ perspective still appears to dominate theory, research, and policy responses. This article... more
Despite growing evidence suggesting diverse manifestations of partner violence (PV) perpetrated by both men and women, a ‘violence against women’ perspective still appears to dominate theory, research, and policy responses. This article emphasizes the complexity of PV and argues that it can be embraced through the integration of contextual approaches. This can be done by (1) conceptualizing PV as a gender-inclusive, dynamic, and multidimensional phenomenon; (2) applying a violent events perspective to measuring the dynamics of violence in relationships; and (3) promoting a transformative change at the level of social policy that would embrace both women’s and men’s diverse experiences of PV, and thus achieve equality-based justice.
Research Interests:
Research data cast doubt on official statistics that show a rise in female crime in Russia. Factor analysis of the data of latent crime has shown that even though the actual female crime rate at the beginning of this century shows a... more
Research data cast doubt on official statistics that show a rise in female crime in Russia. Factor analysis of the data of latent crime has shown that even though the actual female crime rate at the beginning of this century shows a slight rising trend, it is not grounds to assert that female crime has risen substantially.