Neighborhoods can be sexist too

Hostile sexism and risk of intimate partner violence across city neighborhoods

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4596142
AutoresEnrique Gracia (0000-0003-0514-2983, Universitat de València), Antonio López-Quílez (0000-0002-7022-9260, Universitat de València), Miriam Marco (0000-0003-0124-5264, Universitat de València), Pablo Escobar-Hernández (Universitat de València), Marisol Lila (0000-0002-0522-7461, Universitat de València)
Año2025
Volumen380
Páginas118241
Fecha de publicación2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
EditorialElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118241
PMID40440742
OpenAlexW4410610688
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas62

Hostile sexism reflects prejudices and hostile attitudes toward women that may justify and facilitate intimate partner violence (IPV). The present study aimed to measure and map hostile sexism attitudes at the neighborhood level, and analyzed whether neighborhood-level hostile sexism was associated with the risk of IPV across city neighborhoods (Valencia, Spain). We used geocoded data on IPV cases (N = 2,060) aggregated at the census block group level (N = 552). Informed by a social disorganization theoretical framework, neighborhood-level covariates included administrative data on sociodemographic and contextual characteristics (i.e., income, immigrant concentration, residential instability, and social disorder and crime), and survey data on hostile sexism (N = 8,165). We conducted a small-area ecological study using Bayesian spatial modeling and disease mapping methods. Results showed the spatial clustering of neighborhood-level hostile sexism (i.e., these attitudes were not distributed equally across neighborhoods, but showed a distinctive geographical pattern), and that neighborhoods with higher levels of hostile sexism had higher relative risks of IPV, once other neighborhood-level characteristics were accounted for. This study showed that the unequal distribution of neighborhood-level hostile sexism compounded with other neighborhood characteristics (i.e., low income, high immigrant concentration, and high levels of social disorder and criminality) to explain important spatial inequalities in IPV risk across city neighborhoods. Neighborhood-level prevention efforts should consider including strategies to reduce gender biased social norms, prejudices, and hostile attitudes toward women that create a social climate that helps to justify, tolerate, and facilitate IPV

Criminology · Domestic violence · Environmental health · Injury prevention · Occupational safety and health · Poison control · Political science · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Gender Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Law · Medicine