An examination of gender stereotypes, ambivalent sexism, and dating violence as potential predictors of nursing students’ beliefs about intimate partner violence: a cross-sectional correlational study

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to examine the role of the feminine or masculine gender stereotypes, ambivalent sexism and dating violence to predict nursing students' beliefs about intimate partner violence.Background: Although there has been a growing interest in understanding the sociocultural contexts and the factors of the intimate partner violence, there is a serious lack of empirical research on different dimensions of this problem among nursing students.Design: A cross-sectional correlational design was used.Methods: The data were collected from a sample of 520 university students from three nursing schools in Istanbul, Turkey. Participants were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected with the sociodemographic form, the Beliefs About Wife Beating Scale, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, the revised Conflict Tactics Scale, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory.Results: Results revealed that male participants were more prone to justify wife beating and believe that battered women benefitted from beating. Based on the results of the study, in addition to sex, region of birth, representing feminine or masculine gender stereotypes, hostile sexism, psychological aggression and having an injury due to experiencing violence in the latest relationship were the important predictors of nursing students' beliefs about intimate partner violence.Conclusions: Nursing curricula should include courses to enhance students' awareness towards violence against women, sexism and gender equality. More, universities should provide counseling services for nursing students who experienced violence.