Key Social Norms Take-aways This study demonstrates that social norms—particularly perceived and collective community expectations regarding gender roles, family honor, and the acceptability of violence—are significantly associated with women’s risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Nepal. Notably, women’s perceptions of community beliefs about male control, female submissiveness, and the legitimacy of violence to maintain family reputation were more predictive of IPV risk than women’s own attitudes. The findings suggest that interventions aiming to prevent IPV must target both individual perceptions and community-level normative expectations to effectively shift harmful gender norms.
Objectives To examine the association between social norms and women’s risk of experiencing physical and sexual IPV in Nepal, using a newly developed Partner Violence Norms Scale (PVNS), and to assess how perceived and collective normative expectations affect IPV risk at both individual and community levels.
Methods This study used baseline data from the “Change Starts at Home” social behavior change communication intervention, a cluster-randomized trial across 72 wards in three Nepali districts. Surveys were conducted with 1,435 married women aged 18–49. The study employed multilevel logistic regression to model associations between IPV and perceived and collective normative expectations, using the PVNS, as well as a gender attitudes scale derived from the Gender Equitable Men (GEM) scale. Physical and sexual IPV were measured over a 12-month recall period.
Results Eighteen percent of women reported physical IPV and 20% reported sexual IPV in the past year. Perceived normative expectations captured through the PVNS were significantly associated with increased risk of both physical and sexual IPV. Each 0.25-point increase in individual PVNS scores was associated with 12–15% higher odds of experiencing IPV, and a similar increase in community-level PVNS scores raised odds by 40–47%. Collective normative expectations measured via the PVNS were more predictive of IPV risk than aggregated attitudes from the GEM scale, suggesting that the PVNS more accurately captures the influence of social norms on IPV.
Conclusions The evidence supports the role of social norms as a critical determinant of IPV and introduces PVNS as a promising tool for capturing these dynamics. Both perceived and collective normative expectations influence IPV risk, reinforcing the need for interventions that target social norms at multiple levels. Social behavior change communication strategies, such as the “Change” intervention, that engage individuals, families, and communities have the potential to disrupt the social norms that justify and perpetuate IPV. Further psychometric testing and longitudinal research will clarify PVNS’s utility in evaluating intervention impacts.