Determinants of Intimate Partner Violence in Europe: The Role of Socioeconomic Status, Inequality, and Partner Behavior

This article presents an analysis of determinants of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the European Union (EU). Based on an EU-wide survey with 42,000 women that examined women’s diverse experiences of violence—from violence by strangers to sexual harassment—this article looks specifically at the survey’s research with respect to the occurrence of IPV in current partnerships. The analysis explores selected determinants of IPV by focusing on specific indicators in relation to a couple’s socioeconomic status, and analyzes inequalities in the sense of unequal distribution of resources. In addition, a partner’s behavior outside a relationship, as captured through specific survey questions, is looked at as providing additional evidence of factors that strongly indicate IPV. The results of the article show that, when averaging across the EU Member States, among couples with lower socioeconomic status, there is higher prevalence of violence. In particular, women reporting problems with their household income also report higher rates of IPV. Furthermore, women suffer more often from violence if they do not have an equal say about household income. While reported inequality in income between partners, in the sense of a partner earning more or less than a woman, does not show a consistent result, a woman who reports having less say about the family income is more likely to experience IPV. This result points to the importance of “norm” related inequality compared with actual inequality with respect to IPV, which holds true across all EU Member States. Finally, a partner’s behavior—in terms of being violent outside a relationship and frequently getting drunk—shows a strong influence on women reporting incidents of IPV across all countries in the survey.