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Prevalence of intimate partner violence against women: The Nordic Paradox

Comparative analysis of prevalence data on intimate partner violence (IPV) against women still raises an important number of research questions. Among these research questions are the reasons that explain differences in prevalence between various socio-economically defined social groups (age, income and education, country of origin, etc.), or the reasons that may explain differences in prevalence between countries. The Nordic Paradox, which refers to the high prevalence of IPV in countries with high levels of gender equality, remains one of the most puzzling issues in this field of research. In VIO-STRATEGY we try to respond to these and other research questions linked to the analysis of the prevalence of IPV.

  • Castro, A., Lila, M., Wemrell, M., & Gracia, E. (2024). Professional’s views on the ‘Nordic Paradox’ in a low intimate partner violence prevalence country. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 27, e13. https://doi.org/10.1017/SJP.2024.14
  • Gracia, E., García-Senlle, M., Martín-Fernández, M., & Lila, M. (2023). High prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in young adulthood: Is prevention failing? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(17-18), 10205-10233. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605231172479
  • Wemrell, M., Stjernlöf, S., Lila, M., Gracia, E., & Ivert, A. K. (2022). The Nordic Paradox. Professionals’ discussions about gender equality and intimate partner violence against women in Sweden. Women & Criminal Justice, 32(5), 431-453. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2021.1905588
  • Castro, A., Lila, M., Gracia, E., & Wemrell, M. (2022). Professionals’ views on the comparatively low prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in Spain. Violence Against Women, 28(6-7), 1565-1586. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012211021106
  • Karlsson, N., Lila, M., Gracia, E., & Wemrell, M. (2021). Representation of intimate partner violence against women in Swedish news media: A discourse analysis. Violence Against Women, 27(10), 1499-1524. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801220940403
  • Wemrell, M., Lila, M., Gracia, E., & Ivert, A. K. (2020). The Nordic Paradox and intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) in Sweden: A background overview. Sociology Compass, 14(1), e12759. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12759
  • Ivert, A. K., Gracia, E., Lila, M., Wemrell, M., & Merlo, J. (2020). Does country-level gender equality explain individual risk of intimate partner violence against women? A multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (MAIHDA) in the European Union. European Journal of Public Health, 30(2), 293-299. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz162
  • Martín-Fernández, M., Gracia, E., & Lila, M. (2020). Ensuring the comparability of cross-national survey data on intimate partner violence against women: A cross-sectional, population-based study in the European Union. BMJ Open, 10(3), e032231. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032231
  • Martín-Fernández, M., Gracia, E., & Lila, M. (2019). Psychological intimate partner violence against women in the European Union: A cross-national invariance study. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7998-0
  • Gracia, E., Martín-Fernández, M., Lila, M., Merlo, J., & Ivert, A. K. (2019). Prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in Sweden and Spain: A psychometric study of the ‘Nordic paradox’. PloS One,14(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217015
  • Wemrell, M., Stjernlöf, S., Aenishänslin, J., Lila, M., Gracia, E., & Ivert, A. K. (2019). Towards understanding the Nordic paradox: A review of qualitative interview studies on intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) in Sweden. Sociology Compass, 13(6), e12699. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12699
  • Ivert, A. K., Merlo, J., & Gracia, E. (2018). Country of residence, gender equality and victim blaming attitudes about partner violence: A multilevel analysis in EU. The European Journal of Public Health, 28(3), 559-564. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckx138
  • Gracia, E., & Merlo, J. (2016). Intimate partner violence against women and the “Nordic paradox.” Social Science & Medicine, 157, 27–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.03.040