Development of an Instrument for Assessing the Acceptability of Justifications for Partner Aggression

• Grant number: 24/17613-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Sérgio Boggio
• Grantee: Karina Mayumi Hanai
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a social and public health issue that affects countless women worldwide (ONU Mulheres Brasil, 2013). Data from the National Map of Gender Violence show that in 2022, more than 200,000 women experienced some form of violence in Brazil. Despite the prevalence of this violence, the understanding of how justifications for such behavior against women affect the perception of the acceptability of aggression remains limited. This study aims to investigate how different types of justifications related to violent behaviors directed at intimate partners influence and impact individuals' perceptions of the acceptability of aggression. To conduct this investigation, a set of statements will be developed, comprising justifications used in acts of violence, based on real justifications and facts collected from digital media archives. Participants will be invited to evaluate the acceptability of these justifications in an online questionnaire. Data analysis will be conducted through exploratory factor analysis to identify the underlying structure of participants' responses and explore the interrelationships between observed variables. Subsequently, the identified factors will be interpreted to categorize the justifications into distinct groups of acceptability. Additionally, statistical analysis will be performed to investigate the possible influence of participants' gender on the acceptability responses of the justifications. An independent t-test will be employed to compare the mean acceptability between groups defined by participants' gender.