Reconceptualizing and operationalizing context in survey research on intimate partner violence

Survey research in the field of intimate partner violence is notably lacking in its attention to contextual factors. Early measures of intimate partner violence focused on simple counts of behaviors, yet attention to broader contextual factors remains limited. Contextual factors not only shape what behaviors are defined as intimate partner violence but also influence the ways women respond to victimization, the resources available to them, and the environments in which they cope with abuse. This article advances methods for reconceptualizing and operationalizing contextual factors salient to the measurement of intimate partner violence. The analytic focus of the discussion is on five dimensions of the social context: the situational context, the social construction of meaning by the survivor, cultural and historical contexts, and the context of systemic oppression. The authors consider how each dimension matters in the measurement of intimate partner violence and offer recommendations for systematically assessing these contextual factors in future research.