Thesis
Public attitudes and beliefs towards coercive control in Australia
Masters by Coursework, Murdoch University
2024
Abstract
Intimate partner violence is a significant global issue entailing physical, sexual, and psychological harm to a partner. Coercive control (CC) is an ongoing pattern of behaviour which can occur within intimate partner violence and aims to control, contain or compel a person, with deleterious long-term effects. Within Australia, CC is legislated against in Tasmania, and New South Wales. However, little is known about the Australian public’s understanding of CC. The present study replicates Lagdon, Jordan et al. (2023), and aims to assess the Australian public’s beliefs and attitudes towards CC. Participants reviewed two CC scenarios, one obvious and one less obvious, and rated their agreement towards ten attitudinal statements, they were then asked if they had heard of CC. Binary logistic regression assessed predictors of CC awareness, and mixed analysis of variance models assessed agreement to attitudinal statements by obviousness of CC, and gender of the victim and respondent. Findings indicated that 42% (n = 152) of respondents had not heard of CC, while participants aged 18-24 years (p < .001), living in non-metropolitan locations (p < .001), who were less qualified (p < .001) and earned a low-income (p = .009), were significantly and independently more likely to be unfamiliar with CC. Further, there was stronger agreement (p < .001) to statements for obvious CC, indicating the public’s difficulty identifying subtle behaviour patterns and male victim-survivor experiences. Findings highlight the need for education campaigns aimed at increasing awareness of CC and mitigating the adverse longterm effects.
Details
- Title
- Public attitudes and beliefs towards coercive control in Australia
- Authors/Creators
- Sarah E Del Pizzo
- Contributors
- Kelli MacMillan (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, School of Psychology
- Awarding Institution
- Murdoch University; Masters by Coursework
- Identifiers
- 991005871138807891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Psychology
- Resource Type
- Thesis
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