Factors Associated With Willingness To Report Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) to Police in South Korea

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious social problem in South Korea, but the IPV reporting rate to the police is not high enough. To reduce violence and further victimization, it is important for IPV (potential) victims to report to police. Thus, this study aimed to examine the factors associated with willingness to report IPV to police if they experience it using the 2013 Korean National Domestic Violence Survey data. A representative sample of 5,000 Korean participants, of whom 1,668 were males and 3,332 were females, were recruited using a stratified multistage sampling design. We found that the willingness to report IPV to the police was statistically significant when the participants were young, had strong knowledge of IPV-related laws, had lower levels of acceptance of violence, had lower levels of conservative gender role values, and when the seriousness of violence was higher for both male and female participants. However, having children and having experienced child abuse only affected women’s willingness to report IPV to the police. Based on this study’s findings, we then discussed policy implications to prevent further victimization, focusing on factors that are associated with willingness to report violence to the police.