Background. Intimate partner violence is a recognized public health issue, in which violence in same-sex relationships is included. Despite intimate partner violence in same-sex relationships being a somewhat growing area of research, we are still lacking knowledge about this problem.Aim. The overall aim was to investigate how Swedish police students perceive intimate partner violence in same-sex relationships.Method. 248 police students (69% males and 31% females) who were currently enrolled in the police education in Växjö read a vignette and answered a questionnaire. The vignettes portrayed an intimate relationship between two people and were available in four versions with the sex of the offender and victim being alternated. The questionnaire consisted of the instrument Opinions of Domestic Violence Scale, and additional questions constructed for this study. Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to make comparisons between groups.Results. Same-sex IPV was perceived as less serious than victimization of a heterosexual female, but the case with a same-sex relationship with a female victim was perceived as more serious than victimization of a heterosexual male. Police intervention was not found to be needed to the same extent in the cases of same-sex IPV as in the case with a heterosexual female victim.Discussion. The perceptions of same-sex IPV as less serious and not in as much need of police intervention as a case involving a heterosexual female victim, may have implications for how these victims are handled by the police. The perceptions of who constitutes a true victim of intimate partner violence may be of importance when decisions are made by police officers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-25334 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Fröberg, Sofi |
| Publisher | Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle (HS), Malmö högskola/Hälsa och samhälle |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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