Violence Against Women

2 downloads 0 Views 229KB Size Report
beliefs about wife beating, family, Lebanon, patriarchy, religion ..... fathers and 56 (28%) mothers completed high school (baccalaureate); 9 (4%) fathers.
Violence Against Women http://vaw.sagepub.com/

Beliefs About Wife Beating: An Exploratory Study With Lebanese Students Nadine Obeid, Doris F. Chang and Jeremy Ginges Violence Against Women 2010 16: 691 DOI: 10.1177/1077801210370465 The online version of this article can be found at: http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/16/6/691 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com

Additional services and information for Violence Against Women can be found at: Email Alerts: http://vaw.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://vaw.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations: http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/16/6/691.refs.html

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

Article

Beliefs About Wife Beating: An Exploratory Study With Lebanese Students

Violence Against Women 16(6) 691-712 © The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1077801210370465 http://vaw.sagepub.com

Nadine Obeid,1 Doris F. Chang,1 and Jeremy Ginges1

Abstract In recent years, there has been a growing interest in understanding the sociocultural contexts and risk factors for domestic violence in the Arab world. This study provides an analysis of the religious, legal, and familial contexts of domestic violence in Lebanon and assesses contemporary attitudes toward women and wife beating in a sample of 206 Lebanese university students. Gender, patriarchal attitudes, religion, childhood experiences with family violence, and mother’s employment status were investigated as predictors of attitudes toward wife beating. Consistent with feminist theories of wife abuse, gender and attitudes toward women’s roles emerged as the strongest predictors of beliefs about wife beating. Keywords beliefs about wife beating, family, Lebanon, patriarchy, religion

Introduction Domestic violence (DV) in the past three decades has warranted global attention and lobbying from the social, legal, and health sectors. By 2006, the number of nations that introduced specific laws, whether criminal or civil, to curb DV increased to 89 nations (Heyzer, 2006). Despite governmental and nongovernmental interventions and preventative policies, the prevalence of DV as reported in national surveys is alarming. In the United States, about 1.3 million women are physically assaulted 1

The New School for Social Research, New York

Corresponding Author: Nadine Obeid, Department of Psychology, The New School for Social Research, 80 Fifth Avenue, Room 707, New York, NY 10011 Email: [email protected]

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

692

Violence Against Women 16(6)

annually by an intimate partner (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000), and in Europe, 1 in 4 women experience DV over their lifetimes and between 6% and 10% of women a year report being physically abused by their partners (Council of Europe, 2002). In the Arab world, DV is a significant social problem exacerbated by the lack of legal protections, public education campaigns, and services for victims. Although official prevalence rates of DV in the Arab countries are scarce, some findings suggest that it is a widespread problem. In Egypt, in a nationally representative sample of 14,779 women, 1 out of 3 Egyptian women ever married reported having been beaten at least once since marriage (El-Zanaty, Hussein, Shawky, Way, & Kishor, 1996). In two national surveys in the West Bank and Gaza Strip of 2,410 and 1,334 Palestinian married women, respectively, slightly more than 50% reported one or more acts of physical abuse at least once by their husbands during the past 12 months (Haj-Yahia, 2000a). In Israel, when 291 married Arab women were presented with vignettes of women experiencing DV and asked if they had witnessed such behavior in Arab society, 64% to 78% knew of Arab women who had experienced moderate to severe physical violence by husbands (Haj-Yahia, 2000b). In Jordan, the first hotline that was created in 1996 reported 4,000 registered cases of battered women in its 1st year of operation (Kulwicki, 2002). In Syria, current physical abuse by the husband was found in 26.2% of 362 low-income married women interviewed at medical health clinics (Maziak & Asfar, 2003).

Sociocultural Context of Arab Societies Studies involving Palestinian women (Haj-Yahia, 1998), Arab married women in Israel (Haj-Yahia, 2000b), Jordanian women (Haj-Yahia, 2002), and Arab men in Israel (Haj-Yahia, 2003) have described the traditional nature of family and marital expectations in Arab society as a context for understanding beliefs condoning wife beating. In traditional Arab families, the man is considered the head of the family and women’s roles are largely restricted to that of housewives and mothers (Haj-Yahia, 2000b; Wehbi, 2002). Women are also charged with upholding the values of obedience and self-sacrifice, maintaining the family’s reputation, and attending to other members’ needs. These traditional values regarding women’s roles have been attributed to the patriarchal and patrilineal nature of Arab families (Haj-Yahia, 1998; Joseph, 1993, 1994; Kulwicki, 2002). These twin systems support the control of wives by husbands and the bodily and moral control of women by sons and brothers. Both systems are mutually reinforcing and supported by the belief that the family is the most sacred social institution to be protected at all costs (Haj-Yahia, 2000b). Honor is therefore central to family relationships and upheld by the selflessness of family members, the manliness of men, and the sexual purity of women (Kulwicki, 2002). Although the notion of family honor helps to maintain family privacy, reputation, and solidarity, it also dictates which behaviors are considered acceptable for women and justifies DV when normative expectations are violated. An extreme but pertinent example is crimes of honor, where a male relative is justified and even supported in the killing of a female family member for alleged sexual misconduct.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

693

Obeid et al.

At a sociocultural level, family and gender relationships are shaped and reinforced by religious ideology and institutions. In most Arab societies, the only recognized form of gender interaction outside the family of origin is marriage, which is heavily regulated by the Islamic courts. Although women’s education and employment are supported under Islamic law and ideology, the roles of wife and mother remain the most highly valued (Wehbi, 2002). However, in the case of husbands’ tolerance of wife beating, Arab scholars agree that cultural and patriarchal customs have led to biased interpretations of Islamic laws to provide religious authority in the use of violence in the marital and family sphere (e.g., Douki, Nacef, Belhadj, Bouasker, & Ghachem, 2003; Haj-Yahia, 1998, 2003).

The Case of Lebanon Lebanon presents an intricate case study of Arab society because of its religio-cultural diversity and its relative openness to Western influences. Lebanon is a small country on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea with about 4 million inhabitants. Relative to other Arab countries, it is perceived to be more liberal and modern in values and practice. Lebanon is a democratic republic that recognizes 18 religious communities, each of which has established its own religious courts regulating family laws, including marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance, independent of the judiciary.

Legislated Discrimination Against Women The Lebanese Constitution states that all people shall be equal before the law, a ruling that offers Lebanese women freedom of mobility and expression that is unparalleled in many other Arab countries. However, the legal system includes Articles that espouse patriarchal values, discriminate against women, and fail to provide protection to victims of DV. Article 562 of the penal code addresses honor crimes, granting legal justification to men who assault or kill their wives, female relatives, or sisters suspected of sexual transgressions. Articles 487 to 489 address the crime of adultery but impose inequitable standards for conviction and sentencing that favor men over women. The penal code also defines rape as a forcible sexual act committed against someone other than a spouse (Article 503), a definition that indirectly justifies sexual violence within the context of a marital relationship. A separate article (Article 522) states that the rapist or kidnapper is acquitted from charge if he marries his victim, which effectively legalizes marital rape and defines wives as husbands’ property. In addition to the penal code, the religious courts that govern family laws of members of their respective religious sects in Lebanon likewise privilege men over women. In the case of divorce, for example, whereas the Catholic court forbids it entirely, the Greek Orthodox court grants it to a husband if he proves that his wife was either not a virgin upon marriage or has destroyed his “seed” willfully through contraception or abortion (Shehadeh, 1998). Islamic courts grant divorce easily to Muslim husbands, even without their wives’ consent, but withhold it from wives unless they were given the “isma” (the

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

694

Violence Against Women 16(6)

right to divorce) in their marriage contract. Also in the case of a Muslim wife leaving her conjugal home, the husband has the right to bring her back to his “house of obedience” (Shehadeh, 1998). This is consistent with reports that religious courts can compel battered wives to return to their conjugal homes (Women’s International Network, 2001). Although Lebanon ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1996, the Lebanese government still expresses reservations on three articles, including the reservation to adopt a unified family law applicable to all women irrespective of religious affiliation and independent of religious courts (Article 16). To this day, there are no judicial or religious laws that protect women from violence perpetrated against them, including DV.

The Role of the Lebanese Family Similar to other Arab societies, Lebanese citizens from all religio-cultural communities rank the family first both in terms of importance among all other social institutions and as a source of defining their social and personal identity (Faour, 1998; Information International, 2007). In the last two decades, the Lebanese families have been influenced by urbanization and Westernization, as Lebanese youth seek employment and education abroad. Perhaps the greatest transformations to Lebanese families and gender relationships, however, have resulted from the social upheavals and traumas of war (Joseph, 2004). During the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) and in the absence of a trustworthy state, the family functioned as space for both the challenging of gender roles and the protection of traditional structures and gender relationships. During this time, families began to move toward greater nucleation and democratization (Faour, 1998; Joseph, 2004), as men were involved in the war or were seeking economic opportunities abroad. Mothers began to assume more empowered roles, which reverberated in public spheres with increased employability and mobilization (Joseph, 2004). However, the same conditions of war that allowed for change in the Lebanese family also forced what Joseph (1993, 1994, 2004) terms connective selves, where family members perceive themselves as extensions of others and others as extensions of one’s self, to reinforce patriarchal dynamics. According to Joseph’s in-depth analyses of postwar Lebanese families, patriarchal connectivity, or the subordination of needs to those of male kin and elders, was also strengthened during the war as a means for members to secure themselves. Thus, it is at the intersection of change and tradition that the Lebanese family stand today. Despite various challenges to tradition, children continue to assume their father’s citizenship, name, and religion, and mothers married to non-Lebanese men are denied the transfer of citizenship to their children, restricting their children’s citizenship rights.

Theoretical Perspectives on Attitudes Toward Wife Beating In recent years, scholars have begun to move toward greater theoretical integration examining how individual, communal, cultural, and structural factors influence the development

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

695

Obeid et al.

of domestic and family violence attitudes and behaviors (DeMaris, Benson, Fox, Hill, & Van Wyk, 2003; Haj-Yahia & Abdo-Kaloti, 2003; Heise, 1998), while a growing number of studies have also illustrated the need for cultural adaptation and inclusion of contextspecific variables (Bui & Morash, 1999; Haj-Yahia, 1998; Klevens, 2007). Although the empirical findings are scarce, the Lebanese sociocultural context suggests the relevance of social learning, feminist, and structural paradigms in understanding popular attitudes toward wife abuse. First, social learning theories, which broadly conceptualize DV as the result of socialization, can be informative in the present study in light of the highly valued socializing role of the Lebanese family. Empirical studies provide some support for the social learning hypothesis, as individuals who report witnessing or experiencing abuse in childhood are more likely to endorse gender role attitudes and conflict resolution strategies associated with violence perpetration in adulthood (e.g., Bandura, 1973; Carroll, 1977). Specifically, significant relationships have been reported between early childhood experiences with family violence and male privilege attitudes (Yoshioka, DiNoia, & Ullah, 2001), acceptance of wife beating (Haj-Yahia & Uysal, 2008), and the likelihood of perpetrating violence against women (Briere, 1987). Second, feminist paradigms view DV, and all gendered forms of violence, as arising from patriarchy, defined as male domination over women in private and public domains and a cultural acceptance of women as subordinate to men (Dobash & Dobash, 1978; Schechter, 1982). They are relevant to this study in light of the challenges to, and transformations of, patriarchal gender roles within the Lebanese families on one hand and the structural discrimination of women on the other. Empirical evidence suggests that attitudes and behaviors associated with wife beating are in fact connected to larger systematic gender inequalities in society, maintained by structural, ideological, and familial patriarchy (e.g., Dobash & Dobash, 1979; Smith, 1990; Sugarman & Frankel, 1996; Yllo & Straus, 1990). In the present study, two patriarchal constructs are considered, traditional (versus egalitarian) attitudes toward women’s roles (Spence & Helmreich, 1978) and ambivalent sexism, construed as hostility toward women who step out of their traditional roles and benevolence toward those who uphold them (Glick & Fiske, 1996). Studies across cultures have reported strong associations between traditional attitudes toward women’s roles and endorsement of violence against women, including wife beating (e.g., Briere, 1987; Burt, 1980; Haj-Yahia, 1998, 2003) and between ambivalent sexism and attitudes condoning wife abuse (Glick, Sakalli-Ugurlu, Ferreira, & Aguiar de Souza, 2002). Religion is another construct that has been positively associated with traditional patriarchal ideologies (e.g., Morgan, 1987; Peek, Lowe, & Williams, 1991; St. Lawrence & Joyner, 1991) and that warrants exploration in the Lebanese context in light of its centrality to both social identity and regulation of family affairs. Research on religion’s role in condoning violent acts against wives has produced mixed results, partly attributed to it being a multifaceted construct and also its covariance with patriarchal ideologies. While some scholars have suggested the role of patriarchal religious ideologies in justifying DV acts (e.g., Nason-Clark, 1997, 2000), other researchers point

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

696

Violence Against Women 16(6)

to the negative or weak and curvilinear association between religious involvement and incidents of DV (Brinkerhoff, Grandin, & Lupri, 1992; Ellison, Bartkowski, & Anderson, 1999) or highlight religion’s protective effect against perpetration of violence against women (Ellison & Anderson, 2001). Specific to wife abuse attitudes, religion, construed as intrinsic or extrinsic or as religiosity, has not been found to contribute to tolerance of wife beating above the contribution of traditional gender role attitudes (Berkel, Vandiver, & Bahner, 2004; Haj-Yahia, 2003). Finally, structural paradigms such as resource theory and relative resource theory have argued the importance of levels of resources, such as employment, education, or earnings in predicting relationship violence (Blood & Wolfe, 1960; Goode, 1971). According to these theories, violence becomes an alternative resource for establishing male authority when men experience fewer resources in general or relative to their partners (Atkinson, Greenstein, & Monahan Lang, 2005; McCloskey, 1996). For the present study, postwar changes in resource contributions of the family members and women’s employability suggest the relevance of structural variables in understanding gender role ideologies, family violence, and beliefs of wife beating.

The Present Study In the absence of national resources to assess actual acts of wife beating, gauging public beliefs is crucial as they constitute risk factors for both aggressors and victims (e.g., Briere, 1987; Malamuth, 1986; Muehlenhard & MacNaughton, 1988). This study represents an initial effort to explore beliefs about wife beating and correlates relevant to the Lebanese sociocultural context. The specific aims are to (a) describe beliefs about wife beating in a sample of Lebanese university students; (b) explore students’ patriarchal attitudes, religiosity, and childhood experiences with family violence; and (c) test an integrated model that describes beliefs about wife beating as a function of gender, religion, patriarchal attitudes, childhood experiences of family violence, and mothers’ employment status. Drawing on feminist and social learning theories of violence against women, we hypothesize that patriarchal attitudes and childhood experiences with family violence will positively relate to tolerance of wife beating. Furthermore, given changes in the marital power structure as a result of war and exposure to Western ideologies, we explore the impact of mothers’ employment status on their children’s attitudes toward wife abuse. It is possible that having mothers who work would serve to model economic power sharing in the marital relationship and consequently result in the development of more egalitarian views of women and less tolerance of wife abuse in their children. An alternative scenario, informed by relative resource and social learning theories, is that children of working mothers may have been exposed to more incidents of family conflicts as a consequence of mothers challenging traditional gender roles and economic power distribution within the family. In this latter case, mother’s employment may be associated with attitudes that are more tolerant of wife abuse.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

697

Obeid et al.

Method Sample and Procedure The study sample consisted of 206 undergraduate students from various regions attending the Lebanese American University. Data were collected during class meetings of 10 different courses pertaining to the study of engineering, psychology, pharmacy, English, business, and social work. At the start of the class and prior to administration, professors introduced the research assistants, who introduced the study as a project investigating attitudes toward men and women. All students filled out a consent form and then completed a packet of questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered in English, the official language of instruction. The sample consisted of 109 (53%) male students and 97 (47%) female students. The mean age of the sample was 20.26 (SD 1.81; range 17 to 27 years). Thirty-three students (17%) were in their 1st education year, 68 (33%) were in their 2nd year, 70 (34%) were in their 3rd year, 20 (10%) were in their 4th year, and 15 (6%) were in their 5th year. One hundred and sixty (78%) students majored in pure/applied sciences or business, 16 (8%) in the arts, 19 (9%) in social sciences, and 11 (5%) did not report a major. Regarding their relationship status, 130 (63%) students reported being single and 76 (37%) being in a relationship. As for religion, 135 (65%) students were Christians (75 Maronite, 19 Catholic, 38 Orthodox, and 3 Protestant), and 71 (35%) were Muslims (39 Sunni, 19 Shiite, 10 Druze, and 3 did not specify). Nineteen (9%) students reported their socioeconomic status to be upper class, 80 (39%) upper-middle class, 93 (45%) middle class, 12 (6%) lower-middle class, and 2 (1%) reported being socioeconomically deprived. Of the 200 students who reported their parents’ education level, 21 (11%) fathers and 19 (10%) mothers completed elementary or intermediate school; 39 (19%) fathers and 56 (28%) mothers completed high school (baccalaureate); 9 (4%) fathers and 25 (12%) mothers completed 1 to 2 university years; and 131 (66%) fathers and 100 (50%) mothers had a college or graduate degree. Of the 195 students who reported the occupational status of the mother, 71 (36%) had working mothers and 124 (64%) reported their mothers’ occupation as “housewife,” “mother,” or “nothing.” Family size (i.e., the number of members living in the same household) ranged from 1 to 9 (M 4.8, SD 1.39). Of the 199 students who reported their ties to the extended family, 82 (42%) reported having close ties, 105 (53%) reported having somewhat close ties, and 11 (5%) reported having distant ties.

Measures Independent Variables

Sociodemographics. This questionnaire included background information such as age, gender, years of education, religious denomination, mother’s employment status, perceived socioeconomic status, college major, relationship status, father’s and mother’s education level, family size, and ties to extended family.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

698

Violence Against Women 16(6)

Patriarchal attitudes. A 15-item version of the Spence and Helmreich (1978) Attitudes Towards Women Scale (ATW) was used to measure traditional-patriarchal (lower scores) versus profeminist-egalitarian (higher scores) attitudes toward equal rights for women on a 4-point Likert-type scale (1 strongly agree, 4 strongly disagree). Haj-Yahia (1998, 2002) reported Cronbach’s alpha of .86 for the Arabic version of ATW in his studies of Jordanian and Palestinian women. In this study, Cronbach’s alpha was .74. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996) was used to measure two co-occurring patriarchal attitudes, Hostile Sexism (HS; 11 items) and Benevolent Sexism (BS; 11 items) on a 6-point Likert-type scale (0 disagree strongly, 5 agree strongly). Benevolent sexism denotes subjective affectionate attitudes toward women in traditional roles, and hostile sexism denotes antagonistic attitudes toward women perceived as violating traditional roles. Compared to the ATW’s focus on equal rights, the ASI measures attitudes toward women in general. Glick and Fiske (1996) reported Cronbach’s alphas ranging from .80 to .92 for HS and .75 to .85 for BS in three studies with American student samples. In this study, Cronbach’s alphas for BS and HS were .61 and .62, respectively. Religion. Religion as Social Identity, a 4-item scale developed by Alexander, Levin, and Henry (2005), was used to measure the degree to which participants identified with their religious community. Responses to the four questions were made on a 7-point Likert-type scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very strongly, important, often, or close). The developers used the scale in a Lebanese sample and reported a Cronbach’s alpha of .80 and .93 for their Christian and Muslim sample, respectively. In this study, Cronbach’s alpha for the whole sample was .78. To assess the degree to which participants engaged in religious practice—Religion as Practice—they were asked (a) how often they practiced religious rituals such as praying and fasting, and (b) how often they went to church, mosque, or other religious places of worship, using a 7-point Likert-type response scale (1 not at all, 7 very often). Responses on the two items were scaled to form a mean score, with a Cronbach’s alpha of .85. Childhood experiences with family violence. Participants were asked (a) how often they were physically hit by one or both of their parents (direct experience), and (b) how often they witnessed marital violence between their parents (indirect experience), using a 5-point Likert-type response scale (1 never, 5 always). Items were adapted from a community survey conducted by Yoshioka et al. (2001). Fifty-four percent of the participants reported having been hit at least once during their childhood, and 75% reported having never witnessed violence between their parents during their childhood.

Dependent Variables

Beliefs about wife beating. Four subscales derived from the Inventory of Beliefs About Wife Beating Scale (IBWB; Saunders, Lynch, Grayson, & Linz, 1987) were used as the dependent variables. Two scales, Help Should be Given (five items) and

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

699

Obeid et al.

Offender (Husbands) Should be Punished (four items), were administered in their original format. In addition, cultural adaptations of two scales, Justification of Wife Beating (14 items) and Husbands are Responsible (four items), developed for an Arab context, were administered (Haj-Yahia, 1998). Saunders et al. (1987) and Haj-Yahia (1998) reported good internal consistency reliability, with alphas ranging from .61 (Offender Should be Punished) to .91 (Justification of Wife Beating, Arab version). Scaling differed slightly across the subscales, with responses on the two Arab adaptations using a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 strongly agree and 5 strongly disagree), and the two original subscales using a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 strongly agree, 7 strongly disagree). In the present study, internal consistency reliability was comparable to the original validation studies and ranged from .68 (Husbands are Responsible) to .94 (Justification of Wife Beating, reverse coded). Higher scores on these four subscales reflect beliefs that wife beating is not justified, that help should be given to victims, that husbands should be held responsible, and that husbands should be punished.

Analysis Plan Correlational analyses and t tests were used to examine the relationships between demographic characteristics, predictor variables, and the dependent variables. Separate multiple regressions were then conducted to predict the four different beliefs about wife beating. In Step 1, we controlled for age. In Step 2, we added gender (1 female; 0 male), attitudes toward women’s roles, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism; direct and indirect experience of family violence; religious denomination (1 Christian; 0 Muslim), religion as practice, and religion as social identity; and mother’s employment status (1 working; 0 nonworking).

Results Descriptive Statistics and Intercorrelations Between Model Variables Age was negatively correlated with nonjustification beliefs (r –.16, p  .05) and beliefs that help should be given (r –.15, p  .05); younger students were more likely to hold beliefs about helping victims and nonjustification of abuse. Other significant correlations between the sociodemographic variables and beliefs about wife beating were not found. Younger students were less hostile and benevolent toward women (each r .15, p  .05) and more likely to practice their religion (r –.18, p  .01). Students with more affluent parents were more likely to hold benevolent attitudes toward women (r .28, p  .001), whereas students with more education years were more likely to be hostile toward women (r .15, p  .05), less likely to be benevolent (r –.14, p  .04), and less likely to practice religion (r –.25, p  .001). Students with less educated mothers and with less affluent parents were more likely to have working mothers (r –.18 and –.15, p  .05, respectively); and students with stronger ties to extended family were more likely to identify with their religious community (r .22,

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

700

Violence Against Women 16(6)

p  .01) and to engage in religious practices (r .209, p  .01). Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations, and bivariate correlations between the key variables in the model. Of the sociodemographic variables, female and male students differed only in age, father’s education level, and choice of college major. Female students were likely to be younger than male students (p  .05, M 19.92 and 20.55, respectively), were likely to have fathers with higher levels of education than male students (p  .05, M 4.69 and 4.28, respectively), and were more likely be enrolled in social sciences or arts majors than male student. Gender was found to be significantly associated with patriarchal attitudes and beliefs of wife beating, such that female students were more likely to hold egalitarian attitudes toward women’s roles (p  .001, M 3.18 and 2.69, respectively), to hold benevolent attitudes toward women (p  .05, M 3.28 and 3.09, respectively), not to justify wife beating (p  .001, M 4.72 and 3.85, respectively), hold husbands responsible (p  .001, M 4.38 and 3.70, respectively), believe that help should be given (p  .001, M 6.16 and 5.24, respectively), and believe that husbands should be punished (p  .001, M 5.39 and 4.45, respectively). Male students were more likely to hold hostile attitudes toward women (p  .001, M 2.92 and 2.40, respectively) and to report being hit growing up than female students (p  .05, M 1.78 and 1.53, respectively). There was no significant difference between Muslim and Christian students on all independent and dependent variables, except for nonjustification of wife beating, where Christians were more likely not to justify wife beating (p  .05, M 4.34 and 4.10, respectively). As for having working mothers, no significant differences were found between female and male students, and between Christian and Muslim students.

Predicting Beliefs About Wife Beating Nonjustification of wife beating. More than about 50% strongly opposed any justification for wife beating on every single item. Item 5, “a sexually unfaithful wife deserves to be beaten,” was the only exception: 26% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed with the statement (M 3.67, SD 1.48). Although 74% strongly agreed or agreed that “there is no excuse for a man to beat his wife,” 12% were undecided and 14% disagreed to some extent (M 4.11, SD 1.24, reversed). Participants demonstrated more ambivalence regarding whether the following situations were grounds for wife beating: 10% to 14% were undecided whether disrespect for parents and siblings (M 4.31, SD .95), disrespect for relatives (M 4.35, SD .89), insult in front of friends (M 4.07, SD 1.13), and disobedience to husband (M 4.25, SD .98) were a justification for wife beating. As shown in Table 2, the final model explained 50.6% of the variance. Female students, Christian students, and students with egalitarian attitudes toward women’s roles, each positively and uniquely predicted variance in nonjustification of wife-beating scores. Husbands are responsible. Although 81% strongly agreed or agreed that “abusive and violent husbands should always be held responsible for their behavior” (M 4.17,

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

701

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

— — — — — — — — — —

4.02 (0.74)

5.68 (0.97)

4.89 (1.23)

2.92 (0.43)

3.18 (0.61)

1.51 (0.56) 4.18 (1.72)

4.68 (1.34)

1.66 (0.71)

1.36 (0.71)

206)







— —















— —







.52***

.40***

.46***

4

family violence.

.46***

.57***

3

dependent variable; FV

.61***

2

4.26 (0.75)

M (SD)

Note: IV independent variable; DV *p  .05. **p  .01. ***p  .001.

1. Nonjustification of wife beating 2. Husbands are responsible 3. Help should be given 4. Husbands should be punished 5. Attitude toward women 6. Benevolent sexism 7. Hostile sexism 8. Religion as practice 9. Religion as social identity 10. Direct experience with FV 11. Indirect experience with FV 12. Having a working mother

Variables

Table 1. Intercorrelations Between IVs and DVs (N







— —





.41***

.52***

.48***

.65***

5

.00 .12

.25*** .22** .18** .38***

.03 .08







— —









— —

.02

.09

.23*

.09







.01 —

.09

.08

.01

.37***

.05

8

7

6









.00



.09

.29** .05

.01 —

.04

.06

.01

.05 .08

.14*

.04

.06

.01

.04

12

.01

.04

.04

.06

.01

11

.06 .08

.06

.04

.03

.07

.10

.05

10

.07 .11 .55*** .16*

.04

.19**

.09

.01

.03

.11

9

702

Violence Against Women 16(6)

SD 1.04, reversed), 22% strongly agreed or agreed and 18% were undecided about the wife and conditions of daily life playing a major role in the husband’s actions (M 3.63, SD 1.15). The final model was significant and explained 31.7% of the variance. As shown in Table 2, controlling for all other variables, male students were less likely than female students to hold husbands responsible for wife beating, and regardless of gender, traditional attitudes toward women’s roles were negatively associated with the extent to which husbands were held responsible for wife beating. Help should be given. An overwhelming majority (88%-93%) of participants recognized wife beating as a social problem (M 6.02, SD 1.30, reversed) and agreed to some extent that “social agencies should do more to help battered women” (M 6.29, SD .99, reversed) and that “women should be protected by law if their husbands beat them” (M 6.27, SD 1.07, reversed). In response to hearing a woman being attacked by her husband, 22% of the participants agreed to some extent that it would be best to do nothing (M 4.77, SD 1.78) and 18% disagreed to some extent with the idea of calling the police (M 5.04, SD 1.74, reversed). As shown in Table 2, the final model significantly accounted for 34.7% of the variance. Female students were more likely than male students to hold beliefs of helping victims, and regardless of gender, egalitarian attitudes toward roles of women, and holding benevolent attitudes toward women, each uniquely and positively predicted beliefs that help should be given to victims. Husbands should be punished. Although more than 50% expressed some agreement with the different punishment scenarios for wife beating, 29% of the participants disagreed to some extent with divorce (M 4.59, SD 1.81, reversed), 22% disagreed to some extent with arresting the husband (M 4.52, SD 1.61, reversed), and 15% disagreed to some extent with the wife moving out (M 5.12, SD 1.60, reversed). Between 19% and 27% of the participants neither disagreed nor agreed with any of the punishment scenarios. The final model significantly explained 24.3% of the variance. As shown in Table 2, female students and students with egalitarian attitudes toward women’s roles each positively and uniquely predicted variance in punishment scores.

Discussion This study explored the relationships between patriarchal attitudes, religion, and childhood experiences of family violence, with beliefs about wife beating in a sample of Lebanese students. In addition to gender, attitudes toward women’s roles seemed to be the most robust and consistent in explaining beliefs about wife beating, such that male students and female students with traditional attitudes toward women’s roles were more willing to endorse beliefs that condone wife beating. This is consistent with existing research findings that after gender, gender role ideology is the strongest predictor of attitudes that support violence against women (e.g., Burt, 1980; McHugh & Frieze, 1997; Wehbi, 2002) and that support wife beating in particular (e.g., Berkel et al., 2004; Finn, 1986; Willis, Hallinan, & Melby, 1996). The results of this study lend support to the feminist perspective of describing and explaining aspects of violence against women.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

703

Obeid et al.

Table 2. Summary of Multiple Regression Analyses for Predicting Beliefs of Wife Beating (N 206) Beliefs and Independent Variables Nonjustification of wife beatinga Female Attitudes toward women’s roles Hostile sexism Benevolent sexism Direct experience of family violence Indirect experience of family violence Christian Religion as social identity Religion as practice Having a working mother R .711, R2 .506, F 17.471*** Husbands are held responsible Female Attitudes toward women’s roles Hostile sexism Benevolent sexism Direct experience of family violence Indirect experience of family violence Christian Religion as social identity Religion as practice Having a working mother R .563, R2 .317, F 7.936*** Help should be givenb Female Attitudes toward women’s roles Hostile sexism Benevolent sexism Direct experience of family violence Indirect experience of family violence Christian Religion as social identity Religion as practice Having a working mother R .589, R2 .347, F 9.102*** Husbands should be punished Female Attitudes toward women’s roles Hostile sexism

E

B

SE B

.113 .176 .022 .016 .008 .004 .051 .007 .007 .000

.025 .028 .017 .016 .014 .014 .020 .008 .007 .000

.313*** .418*** .078 .053 .029 .015 .135* .055 .065 .025

.368 .686 .036 .107 .021 .055 .059 .023 .032 .000

.121 .138 .084 .080 .070 .066 .098 .041 .033 .000

.247** .393*** .030 .086 .020 .053 .038 .051 .060 .050

.077 .186 .018 .067 .026 .000 .036 .008 .004 .000

.031 .034 .021 .020 .017 .016 .024 .010 .008 .000

.204** .419*** .027 .212** .100 .000 .090 .043 .043 .047

.623 .863 .060

.213 .242 .147

.251** .296** .029 (continued)

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

704

Violence Against Women 16(6)

Table 2. (continued) Beliefs and Independent Variables Benevolent sexism Direct experience of family violence Indirect experience of family violence Christian Religion as social identity Religion as practice Having a working mother R .492, R2 .243, F 5.472***

B

SE B

.075 .027 .102 .257 .026 .088 .000

.140 .122 .116 .172 .071 .058 .000

E .036 .013 .053 .097 .029 .123 .105

Note: Table presents the independent and predictor variables and R, R2 and F of Step 2. Age entered at Step 1 was ns. a. Log transformation was computed into a normal distribution of M .20 and SD .17. b. Log transformation was computed into a normal distribution of M .33 and SD .19. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

The analyses covered four dimensions of beliefs about wife beating. First, Lebanese students overall showed a low propensity to justify wife beating relative to the scale’s midpoint and to studies with community samples in other Arab societies (HajYahia, 1998, 2002, 2003). However, a significant number of students justified beating a sexually unfaithful wife and many others reported indecisiveness regarding whether disrespect toward the husband’s parents, siblings, and relatives, insulting the husband in front of his friends, and disobedience were grounds for wife abuse. On one hand, consistent with other Arab societies, this suggests a degree of patriarchal expectations of gender roles particularly when it comes to family and its honor and reputation. On the other hand, the students’ indecisiveness can suggest a potential for change, where patriarchal beliefs related to the honor of the family are slowly being questioned. Their traditional view of women’s roles, however, still predicted their willingness to justify wife beating, suggesting a relationship between traditional expectations of women’s roles and beliefs about the rights of men to enforce these roles. In addition, controlling for their attitudes toward women’s roles, Muslim students showed, to a certain degree, a greater propensity to justify wife beating than Christian students. As Christian and Muslim students did not differ in their patriarchal attitudes and in other beliefs about wife beating, these results could be reflective of the close relationship Muslims have with duty and rights in the marital domain. Although the Qur’an, Muslims’ source of religious and ethical authority, emphasizes mutual obligations of husband and wife, it includes passages that imply obedience and respect for the husband as the wife’s duty and discipline as the husband’s duty (Haj-Yahia, 1998; Shehadeh, 1998). This suggests that to some extent some Muslim students attach a specific interpretation to the husband’s duty to exercise “discipline” over his wife. Second, students in general showed a propensity to hold husbands responsible for their acts of violence. However, there was a marked tendency of sympathy on their behalf, and remarkably 40% of the students agreed to some extent, or were undecided,

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

705

Obeid et al.

that the wife and conditions of the husband’s daily life play a major role in excusing his behavior. These results are consistent with Arab sociocultural values that oppose wife beating in principle but nevertheless expect Arab women to support and understand the conditions of their husbands’ life (Haj-Yahia, 2000b). Understanding the husband, or refraining from blaming only the husband, can also be a consequence of the nature of the connective selves and patriarchal connectivity in perceiving self and others. Within this discourse, it is not surprising that Lebanese students showed some kind of understanding toward husbands who beat their wives. This is corroborated by the unique contribution of both female and male students’ traditional attitudes toward women’s roles in explaining a lower tendency to hold husbands responsible for beating their wives. Third, students showed a reluctance to punish husbands in specific scenarios. For example, only half of the students agreed to some extent with divorce and arrest as solutions to wife battering, suggesting values that emphasize unity of family and the connectivity of its members for its survival. However, the high level of students’ indecisiveness (19%-27%) in endorsing the different punishment scenarios suggests a willingness to change the status quo where the legal system and religious courts afford no protection to victims. Alternatively, divorce and arrest might be perceived as extreme measures, both punitive and vengeful, whereas strategies for coping that use communication and the extended family might be preferred. About 70% of the students agreed to some extent with the moving-out scenario. This could be viewed as a transition phase scenario to the extended family milieu to enhance spousal communication. This is consistent with a study of Lebanese abused wives, which concluded that openness to communication and constructive interventions of the extended family resources are protective factors against further abuse (Keenan, El Haddad, & Balian, 1999). Finally, students endorsed strong beliefs in favor of helping the victims, where the tendency was more marked for social, governmental, and legal interventions than for personal individual interventions. In contrast to accounts that Arab women and society oppose external help and intervention (e.g., Abu-Ras, 2007; Douki et al., 2003; HajYahia, 2000b; Kulwicki, 2002), Lebanese students recognized the need to implement measures and policies to help battered women. On one hand, the Lebanese recognition of, and openness to, the need for social and governmental intervention might be a function of the sample’s education characteristics, as similar tendencies were found with Turkish medical students (Haj-Yahia & Uysal, 2008). On the other hand, Lebanese students’ reluctance to take direct initiative such as personally intervening or calling the police suggests a perception of DV as a private matter, where getting involved directly by calling public attention would bring shame to the family. It could also suggest a distrust of the police’s willingness and legal authority to protect victims. Both egalitarian and benevolent attitudes positively and uniquely predicted students’ willingness to help victims. As Help Should Be Given subscale items do not denote women transgressing traditional roles, benevolent sexism serves a protective role here, consistent with its role with prosocial behavior such as helping and protecting women (Glick & Fiske, 1996). However, it is worth noting that, on one hand, benevolent

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

706

Violence Against Women 16(6)

sexism was more pronounced in female students than in male students, a tendency reported to reflect more sexist cultures. On the other hand, contrary to findings from other cultures, male students showed stronger benevolent attitudes toward women than hostile attitudes (Glick et al., 2000). These results suggest that benevolent attitudes in our study might be tapping into a cultural value close to a romantic or idealized view of women with little sexist consequence, as evidenced by its lack of relationship with other beliefs about wife beating, especially justification of wife beating. This is further suggested by the absence of any relationship between benevolent sexism, hostile sexism, and attitudes toward women’s roles, contrary to ambivalent sexism theory predictions.

The Role of Religion Religion is the most important social, political, and legal force governing Lebanese families and their mobilization. As measured in this study, religion was not found to be a significant factor. Although on average Lebanese students identified strongly with their religious community compared to the scale’s midpoint and participated in communal services and religious rituals, these religious components did not covary with the dependent variables, suggesting an absence of a direct relationship between religion as practice and as social identity with beliefs about wife beating. Practicing religion, such as praying and attending services, was not associated with any patriarchal attitude. However, there was a significant positive relationship between identifying with one’s religious community and holding traditional views of women’s roles. It is possible that group commitment dynamics, important to Lebanese life, are intertwined with traditional, patriarchal attitudes, especially in light of the tendency of students who identified with their religious community to also have stronger ties to the extended families. These tendencies, however, did not translate to tolerance of wife beating. The results of this study validate the observation that the patriarchal nature of Arab society cannot be explained only by religion (Haj-Yahia, 2002) and add to the line of research that has not found support for religion’s involvement in condoning attitudes or incidents of DV (e.g., Brinkerhoff et al., 1992; Ellison et al., 1999; Haj-Yahia, 2003).

Family and Change Results reflect broad changes to domestic life toward nucleation. Students reported on average a family of four to five members, with a very small minority reporting extended family members living in their household. It is therefore not surprising that relationships with extended families appear to be less intertwined than in previous generations. Also, the relatively small difference between the average mothers’ and fathers’ educational achievement contrasted with the Arab traditional norms of ensuring males’ education and reflect a growing mobilization of women. Contrary to both of our hypotheses, having a working mother had no impact on tolerance of wife beating and family violence in our sample. First, having working mothers was not associated

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

707

Obeid et al.

with more childhood exposure to family violence or tolerance of wife beating. Thus, the prediction based on relative resource theory was not supported. Second, students with working mothers held more traditional attitudes toward women’s roles than students with nonworking mothers. This could be because in our sample, working mothers tended to have lower levels of education and to be part of lower socioeconomic households. One possible interpretation suggests that these two characteristics are broadly associated with traditional prioritizing of women’s roles as mothers and wives first, regardless of employment status, where working is perceived as necessary rather than empowering.

Limitations Despite the strengths of this study, there are a number of limitations that should be addressed in future research. First, the sample was a convenience sample of students attending a university in Lebanon. Although half of the Lebanese college population attends private universities, our research site is one of the private universities with an overrepresentation of Christians as well as students from more economically privileged families. Therefore, results could be influenced by particular socialization experiences of students in our sample. Extending the study to public universities and including students of other socioeconomic backgrounds is critical to assess the generalizability of our results. For example, students from less privileged backgrounds with possibly more traditional attitudes toward women might have different experiences and attitudes as a result of their parents’ economic power distribution. Second, investigating these results with equal representations of the religious communities in Lebanon can offer valuable insights into within-group differences. In our study, the heterogeneity of the religious communities may have been underestimated by collapsing the Druze, Shiite, and Sunni communities into a single Muslim category and the different Christian communities as the comparison group. More importantly, further exploration of the psychosocial and cognitive processes that underlie differences in tolerance of wife beating as a function of religious denomination would be more enriching and informative than describing such differences alone. Third, although different dimensions of religion valid to the Lebanese context were included in this study, future studies may benefit from including direct measures of conservatism, extremism, and spirituality. Also assessing explicit attitudes toward the existence and authority of religious courts may clarify the extent of popular support of the courts’ structural and hegemonic control over women. Such research can be valuable in supporting efforts that aim to replace religious courts with a unified family law applicable and fair to all women regardless of religious affiliation. Finally, future research should extend the present findings to test a more comprehensive and theoretically grounded explanatory model of Lebanese attitudes toward wife abuse. Additional variables of possible relevance include male privilege attitudes, marital roles and economic power distribution in the family of origin, and parental conflict resolution style as well as individual-level characteristics such as personality, trauma history, and value orientation among others.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

708

Violence Against Women 16(6)

Implications This study is the first initiative to investigate beliefs about wife beating in a Lebanese sample, an effort that contributes to the cross-cultural study of DV. In our study, attitudes toward women’s roles were the most consistent contributors to explaining beliefs about wife beating, confirming the relevance of the feminist discourse on violence against women in the Lebanese context. Beliefs about wife beating and attitudes about and toward women can also function as protective measures against actual wife beating, recurrent wife beating, and violence against women. To that extent, this study presents data that can be of educational value: Attitudes toward women’s roles can be the focus of change in the educational system, including program building and curriculum setting, and in the media. In the absence of data on actual DV in Lebanon, fighting violence against women by intervening at the level of attitudes and beliefs can prove to be effective and consequential, especially in light of the students’ potential for change implied in their levels of indecisiveness and their readiness for external interventions. Our results can serve as a starting point to promote the following attitudes: recognition of women’s roles in all kinds of domains with emphasis on competence; ability to hold the batterer responsible; recognition that DV, especially in its extreme or persistent form, cannot be a private family matter, along with the ability to intervene, even if only personally; and the necessity to dispel the ideology of husbands’ rights and wives’ duties. Regarding marital expectations, spiritual counseling and Islamic teachings might be effective in discouraging violence against women in the Muslim communities (Abu-Ras, 2007), whereas priests, nuns, and churches can help disseminate information of gender equality in Christian communities. In the absence of governmental potency in revisions of articles of the penal code and in adopting a unified family law, this study adds to the efforts of nongovernmental organizations and human rights activists to change laws that discriminate against women. It substantiates the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women committee’s (2005) recommendation of the need to modify Lebanese patriarchal attitudes toward women’s roles and ensure that top priority is given to violence against women. Most importantly, studies of DV have major implications for psychiatric symptomatology in women that remains largely undetected or untreated in Lebanon. In the absence of protection or support services for women who are battered or discriminated against, it is highly likely that Lebanese women suffer from poor physical and mental health. This study adds voice and body to the pressing need for the assessment and treatment of DV in the service of the psychological and physical well-being of Lebanese women. Acknowledgment The authors would like to thank Drs. Gebran Karam, Irma-Kaarina Ghosn, Hassan Hammoud, and Ketty Sarouphim, along with Loulwa Kaloyeros and Bassam Moujabber, for their help with recruiting participants for the study, and Ramy Tadros and Maurice Obeid for their comments and suggestions.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

709

Obeid et al. Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article: This research was supported in part by grants from the Fonds Quebecois de la Recherche sur la Societe et la Culture (FQRSC).

References Abu-Ras, W. (2007). Cultural beliefs and service utilization by battered Arab immigrant women. Violence against Women, 13, 1002-1028. Alexander, M., Levin, S., & Henry, P. J. (2005). Image theory, social identity, and social dominance: Structural and individual motives underlying international images. Political Psychology, 26, 27-45. Atkinson, M. P., Greenstein, T. N., & Monahan Lang, M. (2005). For women, breadwinning can be dangerous: Gendered resource theory and wife abuse. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 1137-1148. Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression: A social learning analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Berkel, L. A., Vandiver, B. J., & Bahner, A. D. (2004). Gender role attitudes, religion, and spirituality as predictors of domestic violence attitudes in White college students. Journal of College Student Development, 45, 119-133. Blood, R. O., & Wolfe, S. M. (1960). Husbands and wives: The dynamics of married living. New York: Free Press. Briere, J. (1987). Predicting self-reported likelihood of battering: Attitudes and childhood experiences. Journal of Research in Personality, 21, 61-69. Brinkerhoff, M. B., Grandin, E., & Lupri, E. (1992). Religious involvement and spousal violence: The Canadian case. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 31, 15-31. Bui, H. N., & Morash, M. (1999). Domestic violence in the Vietnamese immigrant community: An exploratory study. Violence Against Women, 5, 769-795. Burt, M. R. (1980). Cultural myths and support for rape. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 217-230. Carroll, J. C. (1977). The intergenerational transmission of family violence: The long-term effects of aggressive behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 3, 289-299. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. (2005, February). Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under Article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women: Second periodic report of States parties. Retrieved June 10, 2007, from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/ cedaw33/conclude/lebanon/0545048E.pdf Council of Europe. (2002). Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence adopted on 30 April 2002 and explanatory memorandum. Strasbourg, France: Author.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

710

Violence Against Women 16(6)

DeMaris, A., Benson, M. L., Fox, G. L., Hill, T., & Van Wyk, J. (2003). Distal and proximal factors in domestic violence: A test of an integrated model. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 652-667. Dobash, R. E., & Dobash, R. P. (1979). Violence against women: A case against the patriarchy. New York: Free Press. Dobash, R. P., & Dobash, R. E. (1978). Wives: The “appropriate” victims of marital violence. Victimology, 1, 416-441. Douki, S., Nacef, F., Belhadj, A., Bouasker, A., & Ghachem, R. (2003). Violence against women in Arab and Islamic countries. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 6, 165-171. Ellison, C. G., & Anderson, K. L. (2001). Religious involvement and domestic violence among U.S. couples. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40, 269-286. Ellison, C. G., Bartkowski, J. P., & Anderson, K. L. (1999). Are there religious variations in domestic violence? Journal of Family Issues, 20, 87-113. El-Zanaty, F., Hussein, E. M., Shawky, G. A., Way, A. A., & Kishor, S. (1996). Egypt demographic and health survey—1996. Cairo, Egypt: National Population Council. Faour, M. (1998). The silent revolution in Lebanon: Changing values of the youth. Beirut, Lebanon: American University of Beirut. Finn, J. (1986). The relationship between sex role attitudes and attitudes supporting marital violence. Sex Roles, 14, 235-244. Glick, P., & Fiske, S. T. (1996). The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 491-512. Glick, P., Fiske, S. T., Mladinic, A., Saiz, J., Abrams, D., Masser, B., et al. (2000). Beyond prejudice as simple antipathy: Hostile and benevolent sexism across cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 763-775. Glick, P., Sakalli-Ugurlu, N., Ferreira, M. C., & Aguiar de Souza, M. A. (2002). Ambivalent sexism and attitudes toward wife abuse in Turkey and Brazil. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 292-297. Goode, W. J. (1971). Force and violence in the family. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 33, 624-636. Haj-Yahia, M. (1998). Beliefs about wife beating among Palestinian women: The influence of their patriarchal beliefs. Violence Against Women, 4, 533-558. Haj-Yahia, M. (2000a). The incidence of wife abuse and battering and some sociodemographic correlates as revealed by two national surveys in Palestinian society. Journal of Family Violence, 14, 347-374. Haj-Yahia, M. (2000b). Wife abuse and battering in the sociocultural context of Arab society. Family Process, 39, 237-257. Haj-Yahia, M. (2002). Beliefs of Jordanian women about wife-beating. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 282-291. Haj-Yahia, M. (2003). Beliefs about wife beating among Arab men from Israel: The influence of their patriarchal ideology. Journal of Family Violence, 18, 193-206. Haj-Yahia, M., & Abdo-Kaloti, R. (2003). The rates and correlates of the exposure of Palestinian adolescents to family violence: Toward an integrative-holistic approach. Child Abuse & Neglect, 27, 781-806.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

711

Obeid et al.

Haj-Yahia, M., & Uysal, A. (2008). Beliefs about wife beating among medical students from Turkey. Journal of Family Violence, 23, 119-113. Heise, L. (1998). Violence against women: An integrated, ecological framework. Violence Against Women, 4, 262-290. Heyzer, N. (2006, December 8). Statement: International Human Rights Day. United Nations Development Fund for Women. Retrieved September 5, 2007, from http://www.unifem.org/ news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID 551 Information International. (2007). The Lebanese follow their leaders. Retrieved June 8, 2007, from http://www.information-international.com/pdf/iipolls/2007/Pages%20from%20Ii-issue56 -Feb2007_ENGLISH.pdf Joseph, S. (1993). Connectivity and patriarchy among urban working-class Arab families in Lebanon. Ethos, 21, 452-484. Joseph, S. (1994). Brother/sister relationships: Connectivity, love, and power in the reproduction of patriarchy in Lebanon. American Ethnologist, 21, 50-73. Joseph, S. (2004). Conceiving family relationships in post-war Lebanon. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 35, 271-293. Keenan, C. K., El Haddad, A., & Balian, S. A. (1999). Factors associated with domestic violence in low-income Lebanese families. Image: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 30, 357-362. Klevens, J. (2007). An overview of intimate partner violence among Latinos. Violence Against Women, 13, 111-122. Kulwicki, A. D. (2002). The practice of honor crimes: A glimpse of domestic violence in the Arab world. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 23, 77-87. Malamuth, N. (1986). Predictors of naturalistic sexual aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 953-962. Maziak, W., & Asfar, T. (2003). Physical abuse in low-income women in Aleppo, Syria. Health Care for Women International, 24, 313-326. McCloskey, L. A. (1996). Socioeconomic and coercive power within the family. Gender & Society, 10, 449-463. McHugh, M. C., & Frieze, I. H. (1997). The measurement of gender-role attitudes: A review and commentary. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 1-16. Morgan, M. Y. (1987). The impact of religion on gender-role attitudes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 11, 301-310. Muehlenhard, C. L., & MacNaughton, J. S. (1988). Women’s beliefs about women who lead men on. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 7, 65-79. Nason-Clark, N. (1997). The battered wife: How Christians confront family violence. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. Nason-Clark, N. (2000). Making the sacred safe: Women and abuse and communities of faith. Sociology of Religion, 61, 349-368. Peek, C. W., Lowe, G. L., & Williams, L. S. (1991). Gender and God’s word: Another look at religious fundamentalism and sexism. Social Forces, 69, 1205-1221. Saunders, D. G., Lynch, A. B., Grayson, M., & Linz, D. (1987). The Inventory of Beliefs about Wife Beating: The construction and initial validation of a measure of beliefs and attitudes. Violence and Victims, 2, 39-57.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010

712

Violence Against Women 16(6)

Schechter, S. (1982). Women and male violence. Boston: South End Press. Shehadeh, L. (1998). The legal status of married women in Lebanon. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 30, 501-519. Smith, M. D. (1990). Patriarchal ideology and wife beating: A test of a feminist hypothesis. Violence and Victims, 5, 257-273. Spence, J. T., & Helmreich, R. (1978). Masculinity and femininity: Their psychological correlates and antecedents. Austin: University of Texas Press. St. Lawrence, J. S., & Joyner, D. J. (1991). The effects of sexually violent rock music on males’ acceptance of violence against women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 15, 49-63. Sugarman, D. B., & Frankel, S. L. (1996). Patriarchal ideology and wife-assault: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Family Violence, 11, 13-40. Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full report of the prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wehbi, S. (2002). “Women with nothing to lose”: Marriageability and women’s perceptions of rape and consent in contemporary Beirut. Women’s Studies International Forum, 25, 287-300. Willis, C. E., Hallinan, M. N., & Melby, J. (1996). Effects of sex role stereotyping among European American students on domestic violence culpability attributions. Sex Roles, 34, 475-491. Women’s International Network. (2001, Spring). Country reports on human rights practices for 2000: Lebanon. WIN News, 27, 43. Yllo, K., & Straus, M. A. (1990). Patriarchy and violence against wives: The impact of structural and normative factors. In M. A. Straus & R. J. Gelles (Eds.), Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and adaptations in 8,145 families (pp. 383-399). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. Yoshioka, M. R., DiNoia, J., & Ullah, K. (2001). Attitudes toward marital violence: An examination of four Asian communities. Violence Against Women, 7, 900-925.

Bios Nadine Obeid, MA, is a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the New School for Social Research (NSSR), New York. She received her MA in psychology from NSSR. Alongside her research interests in forms of interpersonal violence, she has been conducting research on sacred values, morality, and intergroup relationships among religio-cultural communities in Lebanon. Doris F. Chang, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychology at the NSSR. Her research aims are understanding the ways in which context and culture influence mental health and treatment. She has examined the cultural contexts of DV and service delivery in Asian communities and social change and psychiatric services in China. Her current project is a phenomenological study of patients’ experiences of cross-racial therapy. Jeremy Ginges, PhD, is a professor of social psychology at the NSSR. His research explores the psychological dimensions of cultural and political conflicts and the psychosocial consequences of exposure to political violence.

Downloaded from vaw.sagepub.com at New School Digital Library on November 23, 2010