Contextual determinants of Intimate Partner Violence: a multi-level analysis in six European cities

Objectives: To assess whether city-level characteristics influence the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization across six European cities. Methods: The DOVE Study included 3496 participants from Athens-Greece, Budapest-Hungary, London-UK, Östersund-Sweden, Porto-Portugal and Stuttgart-Germany. IPV victimization was assessed using the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales and several contextual variables were included: GINI coefficient, gender equality index, an index of social support, unemployment rate and proportion of residents with tertiary education. Multilevel models were fitted to estimate the associations (Odds ratio, 95% Confidence Intervals) between each type of victimization and contextual and individual-level variables. Results: 62.3% of the participants reported being a victim of IPV during the previous year, with large between-city differences (53.9%-72.4%). Contextual variables accounted for a substantial amount of this heterogeneity. Unemployment rates were associated with psychological (1.05, 1.01-1.08) and physical IPV (1.07, 1.01-1.13). GINI coefficient showed a positive association with any form of IPV (1.06, 1.01-1.11) and sexual coercion (1.13, 1.01-1.25). Conclusions: We found significant associations between contextual determinants and IPV, which emphasizes the importance of considering contextual socioeconomic conditions when policy measures are designed to address IPV.