Willingness to intervene when one becomes aware of a case of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) reflects the level of tolerance and acceptance of this type of violence in society. Increasing the likelihood of intervention to help victims of IPVAW is also a target for prevention strategies aiming to increase informal social control of IPVAW. In this study, we present the development and validation of the Willingness to Intervene in Cases of Intimate Partner Violence (WI-IPVAW) scale. We report data for both the long and short versions of the scale. We analyzed the latent structure, the reliability and validity of the WI-IPVAW across four samples (N = 1648). Factor analyses supported a bifactor model with a general non-specific factor expressing willingness to intervene in cases of IPVAW, and three specific factors reflecting different intervention preferences: a preference for setting the law enforcement process in motion (“calling the cops” factor), a preference for personal intervention (“personal involvement” factor), and a preference for non-intervention (“not my business” factor). Configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance across genders were supported. Two short versions of the scale, with nine and six items, respectively, were constructed on the base of quantitative and qualitative criteria. The long and short versions of the WI-IPVAW demonstrated both high reliability and construct validity, as they were strongly related to the acceptability of IPVAW, victim-blaming attitudes, perceived severity of IPVAW, and hostile sexism. These results confirm that both the long and short versions of the WI-IPVAW scale are psychometrically sound instruments to analyze willingness to intervene in cases of IPVAW in different settings and with different research needs (e.g., long versions for clinical and research settings, and short versions for large population surveys). The WI-IPVAW is also useful for assessing prevention policies and public education campaigns design to promote a more responsive social environment in cases of IPVAW, thus contributing to deter and reduce this major social and public health problem.

A B S T R A C TIntimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a major social and public health problem of global proportions. Public attitudes toward IPVAW shape the social environment in which such violence takes place, and attitudes of acceptability of IPVAW are considered a risk factor to actual IPVAW. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a scale measuring acceptability of IPVAW (A-IPVAW). To this end, a sample of 1,800 respondents was recruited via social media. A second sample of 50 IPVAW offenders was used for concurrent validity analyses. Following a cross-validation approach and using item response theory analyses, we found that the latent structure of the scale was one-dimensional and very informative for high and very high levels of acceptability of IPVAW. Regarding criterion-related validity, we found that (a) our measure was related to perceived severity of IPVAW and ambivalent sexism, (b) men showed higher levels of acceptability than women, and (c) IPVAW offenders reported higher levels of acceptability than men from the general population. Taken together, our results provide evidence that the A-IPVAW is a reliable and valid instrument to assess acceptability of IPVAW.

Palabras clave:Actitudes hacia la violencia contra la mujer Atribución de responsabilidad Inmigrantes latinoamericanos Programas de intervención con maltratadores Riesgo de reincidencia Sexismo r e s u m e n En este estudio se analiza, en primer lugar, si existen diferencias entre hombres latinoamericanos inmigrantes y españoles condenados por violencia contra la mujer en las relaciones de pareja, en relación a sus actitudes hacia la violencia (i.e., gravedad percibida, culpabilización de la víctima y aceptabilidad de la violencia), atribución de responsabilidad, sexismo y riesgo de reincidencia al inicio de un programa de intervención con maltratadores. En segundo lugar, se comprueba si existen diferencias al finalizar la intervención en los resultados del programa entre inmigrantes latinoamericanos y nativos. Para ello se utiliza una muestra de 278 participantes que han finalizado un programa de intervención para hombres penados por violencia contra la pareja (211 españoles y 67 inmigrantes latinoamericanos). Los resultados muestran diferencias significativas entre españoles y latinoamericanos en la percepción de gravedad de la violencia, culpabilización de la víctima, aceptación de la violencia contra la pareja y sexismo benevolente. Estos resultados destacan que, independientemente de las diferencias iniciales entre maltratadores españoles y latinoamericanos, ambos grupos se benefician igualmente de la intervención. a b s t r a c tThis study analyzed, first, if there were any differences in attitudes towards partner violence (i.e., perceived severity, victim blaming, and acceptability), responsibility attributions, sexism, and risk of recidivism between Latin American immigrants and Spanish offenders convicted of intimate-partner violence at the beginning of a batterer intervention program. Second, differences in the batterer intervention program outcomes between Spanish and Latin American offenders were explored. The sample consisted of 278 batterers (211 Spanish and 67 Latin American) who participated in a community-based batterer intervention program. Results showed significant differences between Spanish and Latin American offenders in perceived severity, victim blaming, violence against women acceptability, and benevolent sexism. Regarding batterer intervention program outcomes, results showed that despite initial differences between Spanish and Latin American offenders, both groups benefit equally from the intervention.

ResumenDiversas investigaciones destacan el rol de las diferencias culturales y de los factores relacionados con la inmigración en la violencia contra la pareja. El objetivo de este trabajo era analizar si existe un perfil diferencial entre hombres maltratadores españoles (n = 400) e inmigrantes latinoamericanos (n = 117). Para ello se seleccionaron variables según el modelo ecológico y se contrastaron ambos grupos mediante ANOVAs, MANOVAs y Chi-cuadrados. Los resultados obtenidos indicaron diferencias significativas a nivel individual y contextual entre maltratadores españoles e inmigrantes latinoamericanos. Se discuten las implicaciones de estas diferencias en la prevención de la violencia contra la pareja a través de la intervención con los agresores.

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