The \u27Ideal Victim\u27 of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: An Examination of the Impact of Victim/Offender Relationship Status, Victim Self-Identity, and Observer Gender on Constructing Victim Status

Guided by Nils Christie\u27s (1986) Ideal Victim framework, the current study examines the effect that victim/offender relationship status (casual vs. serious), victim self-identity (as a victim or a survivor ), and observer gender (woman vs. man) have on victim blame attributions. Data were collected from 329 adult students at a large public university in the Southwest United States using an online, experimental vignette design. Three separate one-way analysis of variances (ANOVAs) were conducted to test the study\u27s three hypotheses. Results suggest that among the study sample, victim/offender relationship status (H1) and victim self-identity (H2) do not significantly affect victim blame attribution towards victims of IPVAW. Results do support H3 suggesting that observer gender does significantly affect victim blame attribution towards victims of IPVAW with men participants attributing more victim blame than women participants. Future research directions to better capture the nuances of (IPVAW) victim/offender relationship status (among dating couples) and self-identity of an (IPVAW) victim (as a victim or a survivor ) are identified and conceptual replication is encouraged