Predictors of attitudes toward intimate partner violence among African immigrants: The moderating effects of religiosity and patriarchal beliefs

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase in gender-based violence and intimate partner homicides among African immigrants living in the United States. Of the many risk factors theorized for intimate partner homicide, a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) has been cited consistently as salient. A useful framework for conceptualizing IPV risk factors within diverse populations is the social ecological model of IPV (Heise, 1998). This contextually integrative perspective of IPV is particularly relevant among migrant populations given the complex interactions of immigration stressors and other factors that potentially normalize IPV within African cultures and the societies at large. Extant studies have situated IPV among African immigrants in the context of varying levels of acculturation, adherence to traditional gender roles, religiosity, and gender roles reversal due to education and economic stressors. The present study examined the relationships among acculturation strategies, ethnic identity, religious orientation, patriarchal beliefs, and IPV attitudes for first generation African immigrants. Ethnic identity, intrinsic religious orientation, and patriarchal beliefs were significant predictors of IPV attitudes. The relationship between ethnic identity and IPV tolerant attitudes was partially mediated by patriarchal beliefs. However, ethnic identity appeared to be a protective factor, having an inverse relationship with IPV tolerant attitudes that was moderated by religious orientation. Lastly, there were significant differences in the IPV attitudes endorsed by African immigrants based on gender and religious affiliation.