Male Perspectives on Intimate Partner Violence and Relative Resources in the Philippines

Jessica A. Fehringer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Using secondary data from 1571 married men in Cebu, Philippines, the current study examined the relation between the relative resources of husbands and wives and male IPV perpetration and/or victimization. Men who reported that their mothers’ education was lower than that of their wives’ mothers had a higher risk of reporting their own IPV perpetration. The husband working while the wife was not working was positively associated with female IPV perpetration. Men who reported that their wives worked while they did not or that their mothers’ economic status was lower than that of their wives’ had a higher risk of female IPV perpetration. The findings suggest that relative resource theory is not similarly applicable to husband and wife perpetration and a relative resource status that transgresses gender norms may lead to IPV. Also, this study underscores the need to include the husband’s perspective in IPV research.