Cultural Considerations in Understanding Domestic Violence Beliefs

Culture, while hard to define, permeates every aspect of our lives and colors all of our interactions. Unfortunately, scant attention has been given to Hispanic or religious cultural groups in the extant domestic violence literature. Exploring the impact of variables related to religion and ethnicity among a group of Hispanic, Christian women with regards to their definitions of domestic violence (DV) and their perceived acceptability of secular and religious helping resources for religious survivors, was the purpose of the current study. Results indicate that both religious and ethnic variables independently predict women’s definitions and perceptions towards helping agencies. These findings highlight the need for cultural awareness and considerations in the creation and implementation of prevention and intervention programs. These and other findings, in addition to future directions for culturally based research, will be discussed.