Men, masculinity and violence: a study in primary health care services

There are few studies on men dealing with violence as a non-fatal event. As a contribution, the prevalences of psychological, physical and/or sexual violence suffered by men and the perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) are described. This was a cross-sectional study on 789 men aged 18 to 60 years, of whom 775 ever partnered. Men were selected in order of arrival at two primary healthcare clinics in the city of São Paulo. Sociodemographic characteristics and reported violence were investigated, along with the violence overlapping and perceptions of having suffered or perpetrated violence. The lifetime prevalence of suffered violence was 79% for any type and any aggressor; 63.9%, 52.8% and 6.1% respectively for psychological, physical and sexual violence. For lifetime IPV, the rates were 52.1% for any type and 40%, 31.9% and 3.9% respectively for psychological, physical and sexual violence. For both suffered and perpetrated violence, the psychological type had the highest exclusive rate, followed by physical. Acquaintances were the main aggressors, followed by family members, strangers and female intimate partners. Between suffering and perpetrating IPV, 14.2% of the cases overlapped and 81.2% consisted only of perpetrated violence. It was concluded that although in relation to intimate partner violence, men suffered much less than they perpetrated, the data showed that they were involved in many situations of violence of large magnitude and overlapping situations, both as victims and as aggressors, thus echoing studies on masculinity. This complex set of situations should also be taken into consideration in primary healthcare services.