Attitudes that minimise violence against women, mistrust women’s accounts of violence, and objectify women form part of the community context in which violence against women may be excused, minimised or treated as acceptable (1–3). Building knowledge about how these ‘violence-supportive’ attitudes are associated with other attitudes, and how they may change, is an important component of primary prevention efforts in Victoria. Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) conducts the National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) every four years. The NCAS is a national population-level survey that measures trends in violence-supportive attitudes over time and provides an opportunity to examine relationships among interrelated attitudinal dimensions. Respect Victoria commissioned a boosted state-level representative sample in 2021 to allow for deeper examination of factors associated with violence-supportive attitudes in Victoria.
This work aimed to develop and test a conceptual model of associations among attitudes towards gender inequality, understanding of violence against women, psychological distancing and violence-supportive attitudes in Victoria. It does not model violence perpetration, victimisation or prevalence. This technical paper is intended primarily for research, evaluation and policy-analysis audiences; companion evidence and implications briefs translate its main findings for broader policy and primary prevention audiences.
Scales and measurement
The NCAS contains three main scales: the Attitudes towards Violence against Women Scale (AVAWS), the Attitudes towards Gender Inequality Scale (AGIS), and the Understanding of Violence against Women Scale (UVAWS). Each of these scales contains multiple subscales, as listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Scales, subscales and measurement guide for variables used in this analysis
| NCAS 2021 scale | What it measures | Subscales | Number of items | Item structure | Response options | Direction of measurement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attitudes towards Violence against Women (AVAWS) | Violence-supportive attitudes | Minimise Violence Mistrust Women Objectify Women | 43 | 1–5 Likert scale | Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree | Higher scores = less violence-supportive attitudes |
| Attitudes towards Gender Inequality (AGIS) | Patriarchal attitudes | Reinforce Gender Roles Undermine Leadership Limit Autonomy | 17 | 1–5 Likert scale | Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree | Higher scores = less endorsement of gender inequality (more gender-equal attitudes) |
Normalise Sexism Deny Inequality | Disagree Strongly disagree | |||||
| Understanding of Violence against Women (UVAWS) | Community understanding | Recognise Domestic Violence Recognise Violence against Women Understand Gendered Domestic Violence (DV) | 19 | Is [X] a form of violence? ‘Who is more likely to commit domestic violence?’ | Yes, always Yes, usually Yes, sometimes No Men Women Both equally Unsure | Higher scores = more understanding of understanding and recognising all forms of violence against women |
| Violence against women is a problem in the suburb or town where I live | Distancing | N/A | 1 | 1–5 Likert scale | Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree | Higher scores = greater acknowledgement that violence is a local problem (reverse-coded; less psychological distance) |