Sexism, jealousy, aggressiveness and perceived severity in partner violence: comparison between men in the general population and men convicted of gender violence.

Abstract

Gender violence is a multicausal phenomenon in which the aggressor plays a fundamental role. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between the maintenance of sexist beliefs and gender violence. Scores on ambivalent sexism, perceived seriousness, jealousy and tendency to aggressiveness were compared between a sample of 143 men from the general population and 208 men convicted of gender violence crimes undergoing an intervention program. Comparisons were made before and after the application of the program to see if, after the intervention, the convicts reduced their scores on the risk factors to equal those of the general population. The results indicated significant differences in the variables analyzed between the two groups before attending the program and minor differences after attending the program. Although the intervention program has had a positive result on offenders by reducing their scores on the variables analyzed, it would be necessary to further analyze the effect of each component.