Attitudes towards domestic violence Minimising domestic violence Minimizing the impact of domestic violence can be harmful for those experiencing domestic violence and reducing domestic violence in the community (Pennay & Powell, 2012). Therefore, we explore the attitudes Wagga Wagga residents have towards the seriousness of domestic violence behaviours. The figure below represents the level of agreement (as percentages of the survey population) that the behaviours of domestic violence are serious from 2016 to 2021 in Wagga Wagga. As can be seen in figure 7, rates of agreement on the seriousness of each of the behaviours of domestic violence have stayed consistently high from 2016 to 2021. However, there very few increases in attitudes towards the seriousness of domestic violence. The only increase in awareness from 2016 to 2021 was for controlling access to money. Respondents in 2021 were 1.6 times more likely to agree controlling access to money is a serious form of domestic violence than respondents of 2016. Figure 7. Responses (as percentages of the entire survey population) who agree that the specified behaviours of domestic violence are serious.
Gender After controlling for all demographic factors collected in the survey, males and females in Wagga Wagga in 2021 significantly differed on their agreement on the seriousness of all the domestic violence behaviours (see table 10). Overall, women were more likely to agree the domestic violence behaviours are serious than the men in the sample. Females were 4.2 times more likely to agree that slaps or pushes is serious than males. Females were also 3.6 times more likely to agree forcing a partner to have sex is serious, 10.1 times more likely to agree threatening violence to others is serious, and 5.0 times more likely to say throwing or smashing objects is serious compared to the males in the sample. It was also found that females were 2.4 times likely to agree repeated criticism is serious, 4.8 times more likely to agree controlling social life, and 6.9 times more likely to agree denying access to finances are serious compared to males. Finally, females and males also differed on tracking a partner and harassment by messages, with females 5.1 times more likely to agree tracking a partner is serious and 5.7 times more likely harassment by messages are serious than males in Wagga Wagga. Table 10. Percentage of residents in Wagga Wagga in 2021 who agree that the following domestic violence behaviours are serious, separated by gender.
