Construction and evaluation of scales for measuring recognition and experiences of economic violence against women in intimate relationships

Klasnić, Ksenija. (2014). Construction and evaluation of scales for measuring recognition and experiences of economic violence against women in intimate relationships. PhD Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Sociology.
(Poslijediplomski doktorski studij sociologije) [mentor Čulig, Benjamin and Galić, Branka].

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Abstract

There are three scientific contributions of this thesis: methodological, conceptual and empirical. The main contribution is a methodological one: the construction and evaluation of scales for the measurement of women's experience and recognition of economic violence, which researchers of domestic violence and violence in intimate relationships will then be able to use in surveys conducted on samples of women in intimate relationships. The conceptual contribution is the discussion on current theories of causes of violence against women, with particular emphasis on feminist and gender inequality theories, as well as the analysis of the phenomenon of economic violence within the socio-ecological model. The empirical contribution is the identification of: 1) the prevalence of economic violence in a population of women who have a minimum of one year experience of cohabitation with their intimate partners; 2) the factors that are associated with economic violence; 3) the connections of economic violence with other forms of violence against women; and 4) how well women recognize economic violence. In this research, economic violence against women is theoretically approached primarily from the perspective of feminist theories, but major economic and sociological explanations of social inequalities are also taken into consideration, as well as major psychological and sociological explanations of causes of violence against women. The main theoretical conceptualization of factors associated with economic violence is operationalized using the so-called socio-ecological model. In the thesis, violence is defined as patterns of behavior with the aim to demonstrate power, intimidate, coerce control and oppress the person against whom it is intended, while economic violence is defined as behaviors that limit, control and exploit women's economic resources and potentials. Feminist theories assume that male violence against women is the result of patriarchal system and sexist values advocated and supported by the society and its institutions. Violence and abuse are methods that some men use to demonstrate their power and control their partners. Violence is seen as constructed, learned and award-winning behavior that serves to establish and maintain power and control of men over women. Previous studies on causes and factors associated with an increased risk of violence against women suggest that violence is determined by multiple factors. One of the most commonly used multi-dimensional models for their explanation is the so-called socio-ecological model. This model draws its theoretical roots from Bronfenbrenner's theory of individual's development, and the most popular applications in the explanation of causes and factors associated with violence against women are the ones by Bonnie Carlson (1984) and Lori Heise (1998 and 2011). When applied to the explanation of economic violence, the socio-ecological model assumes the following factors: 1. individual level: women's experience of violence in childhood by their parents, witnessing their fathers being violent against their mothers, partner's excessive alcohol consumption, partner's excessive gambling, and partner's unemployment, 2. relationship level: financial problems, family finances and the disposition of assets, as well as other important family decision-making, women's situational financial dependence on their partners, and the experience of physical, psychological and sexual violence by their intimate partners, 3. community level: the characteristics of the environment in which a couple lives, and social support, 4. society level: sexism, and social values. The main objective of this thesis was to construct and evaluate scales for the measurement of women's recognition and experience of various forms of economic violence in their intimate relationships, which can be applied in future survey research. Accordingly, we hypothesized that constructed instruments (scales) will reliably and validly measure the intended subjects of measurement. The indicators of experiences of economic violence were determined based on the results of qualitative research conducted using semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus groups, while most of the indicators for the recognition of economic violence were taken from the normative definition of economic violence in Croatian Law on Protection Against Domestic Violence. Qualitative research revealed that, with regards to the applicability criteria, we can distinguish four main forms of economic violence: 1. the general forms of economic violence that all women who live with their partners can potentially experience, 2. forms of economic violence that can only be experienced by employed women, 3. forms of economic violence related to children that can be experienced only by women who financially support their children together with their partners, 4. forms of economic violence that can occur only after the breakup of an intimate relationship. The first hypothesis of this thesis was confirmed: “Economic violence against women in intimate relationships is manifested in several related groups of forms.” In accordance with these findings, we constructed four scales of the experience of economic violence and one scale of its recognition, which were then included in the survey administered to a sample of women who have a minimum of one year experience of cohabitation with their current or former partners (married or unmarried). The results were then used to evaluate the constructed scales. The evaluation of the first scale - the scale of the general forms of economic violence - revealed that we can speak of three dimensions (and, consequently, three subscales) of the general forms of economic violence: economic exploitation (11 items), the control of spending (6 items) and the creation of financial dependence (9 items), but we can also construct the overall scale of the general forms of economic violence from all 26 items together. The evaluation of the second experiences scale - the scale of the prevention of economic independence of women - revealed that we can speak of two dimensions (and, consequently, two subscales) of the prevention of economic independence of women: indirect (5 items) and direct (3 items) prevention of economic independence, but we can also construct the overall scale of the prevention of economic independence of women from all 8 items together. The evaluation of the third scale of experiences - the scale of economic violence related to child support - showed that it is a one-dimensional scale consisting of three items. The evaluation of the fourth experience scale - the scale of economic violence after the breakup of an intimate relationship - also showed that it is a one-dimensional scale consisting of 8 items. The evaluation of the scale of the recognition of economic violence revealed that it is a one-dimensional scale consisting of 9 items. All scales have adequate content, construct and criterion validity, as well as satisfactory reliability. We can therefore conclude that the main working hypothesis of this thesis is confirmed: “Constructed instruments (scales) will reliably and validly measure the intended objects of measurement”. Empirical contributions of this thesis include the estimation of the prevalence of economic violence against women in intimate relationships, the determination of how well women recognize economic violence and the identification of factors associated with the experience and recognition of economic violence. Quantitative research (N=601) found that the most common forms of economic violence against women are the ones related to the general forms of economic violence, which are experienced by 25.4% of women who have a minimum of one year experience of living together with their partners. From three separate but closely connected dimensions of the general forms of economic violence, the most common are different behaviors of control over women's financial spending (21.5%), followed by women's economic exploitation (15.7%), as well as those behaviours that make women economically dependent on their partners (11.5%). The next form of economic violence is the one after the breakup of intimate relationships: 23.6% of women have experienced at least one (or more) economically violent behavior from their partners after the breakup of a relationship. This is followed by partners‟ behaviors that prevent economic independence of employed women, experienced by 20.1% of women. The last form of behavior is economic violence related to child support, which is experienced by 8.1% of women who financially support their children together with their partners. The factors associated with experiences of economic violence were analyzed at the levels developed in the theoretical discussion on the socio-ecological model - at each level separately at first and then at all the levels together. The results revealed that the most consistent predictors of different experiences of economic violence at the individual level are the following factors: woman's experience of physical abuse in their childhood by their parents, partner's alcohol consumption, and to some extent partner's excessive gambling. Additionally, at the relationship level, the most consistent predictors are the following factors: psychological violence against women by their partners, increased financial problems in the relationship (for the general forms of economic violence), as well as important family decision-making (which is not related to the distribution of family's finances and assets) by women themselves or by their partners, when compared to the relationships with equal decision-making. All of these factors are positively associated with experiences of economic violence. At the relationship level, we found that situational financial dependence of women on their partners is negatively associated with the form of economic violence defined as the control of financial spending. At the community level, several environmental characteristics are associated with particular forms of economic violence, such as the consequences of war, high crime rates and high unemployment rates, however, the most consistent predictor are problems associated with addiction (alcohol, drugs, etc.). We also found that most women with the experience of economic violence have good social support, which means that they talk to people who are close to them about problems they have with their partners. The predictors at the level of society are associated with the experience of some, although not all, forms of economic violence, and reveal a great importance of social values such as the faith in God and non-violence (both predictors are negatively associated with experiences of economic violence), as well as a great importance of social values such as solidarity and patriotism (both predictors are positively associated with experiences of economic violence). These findings support several theories that offer explanations of the causes of violence against women: social learning theory, theory of family stress, resource theory, feminist theories, theory of environmental stress and tension, and culture of violence theory. The findings from this research support the second hypothesis of this thesis: “Experiences of some forms of economic violence can be explained by the factors at the individual level, levels of relationship, community and society”. The recognition of economic violence was measured in a way that women were asked to evaluate economically violent behaviors for each of the nine given, according to whether these behaviours should be punishable by law. We found that, on average, women recognize five out of nine presented behaviors. In total, 21.7% of women considered all nine behaviors to be punishable by law, while 10.4% thought that none should be punishable by law, which means that they did not recognize any of these behaviors as forms of economic violence. Behaviors that were recognized by the least number of women as forms of economic violence were: making important financial decisions that concern both partners without mutual agreement (44.2%), and complete control over intimate partner's income (46.5%). Generally, about one-third of women don't really recognize economic violence, while slightly over a quarter recognizes it somewhat better, and about 40% of women recognize economic violence well. We found that better recognition of economic violence is associated with women's higher financial status, as well as high school as their highest level of education, while believing in myths about violence against women decreases the recognition of economic violence. Experiences of physical and economic violence are not associated with the recognition of economic violence. These findings only partially support the third hypothesis in this thesis: “The recognition of economic violence can be explained by some socio-demographic characteristics, believing in myths about violence against women and experiences of violence in an intimate relationship.”.

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