Perceptions of violence against women in Europe: Assessing individual- and country-level factors

This study analyses individual- and country-level factors influencing women's perceptions of the prevalence of violence against women in their countries. Multilevel modelling was used to study 39,377 women residing in 28 member states of the European Union (EU). Individual-level predictor variables included direct victimisation, vicarious victimisation, avoidant and defensive behaviours, awareness, and sociodemographic characteristics. At the country level, we accounted for an index of gender equality and the prevalence of intimate partner violence against women. The results showed that approximately 80 percent of women indicated that violence against women was common in their country. Most of the individual-level covariates were statistically significant, whereas the country-level indicators were not significantly associated with perceptions of violence against women.