From Adolescence to Adulthood: Intimate Partner Violence in Honor Cultures

Abstract

Intimate partner violence is no new problem. It affects millions worldwide each year. This set of studies was designed to locate the various places within romantic relationships where an influence of culture of honor can be shown. The first study examines archival data on U.S. teen dating violence. Results indicate that adolescent females do indeed experience a higher risk of violence merely by living within an honor-oriented state, particularly as they near the end of high school. The second study moves into a lab setting with a slightly older sample and assesses college females’ perceptions of potential male dating targets in an online dating profile. Women who strongly endorsed honor ideology indicated a higher likelihood to pursue a more “dangerous” target than did women who did not strongly endorse the culture of honor. Honor-endorsing women who viewed a less dangerous target indicated equal likelihood to pursue him as did non-honor endorsing women. Finally, the third study utilizes a national sample of married women to assess how attitudes toward “mate guarding” behaviors are associated with women’s relational experiences. Results indicate that a complex set of factors including honor norm endorsement, mate guarding experiences, and perceiving mate guarding behaviors as displays of commitment combine to predict wives’ ratings of their current marriages. Taken as a whole, these studies lend credence to the growing body of evidence that in order to address the global intimate partner violence problem, honor-oriented values must be thoroughly examined. Keywords: honor, culture, intimate partner violence