AccScience Publishing / IJPS / Volume 10 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.36922/ijps.376
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REVIEW

Gender symmetry: A systematic review of men’s experiences of intimate partner violence during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

Dorothy N. Ononokpono1 Endurance Uzobo2*
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1 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
2 Department of Sociology, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria
IJPS 2024, 10(1), 34–44; https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.376
Submitted: 30 September 2022 | Accepted: 1 December 2023 | Published: 28 December 2023
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health concern. However, men’s experiences of IPV have been largely neglected in previous studies. This systematic review aimed to examine men’s experiences of IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Six online bibliographic databases were used to identify relevant published peer-reviewed journal articles and gray literature. A total of 19 journal articles and gray literature that examined the prevalence, types, and consequences of violence experienced by men during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown were extracted for review. This systematic review is anchored on the gender symmetry theory developed by Straus and Gelles. Expectedly, females were the major victims of IPV cases, but a significant number of men around the world also experienced IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. This finding suggests that evidence-based approaches that also recognize men as victims of IPV should be taken into account for minimizing such cases.

Keywords
Gender symmetry
Intimate partner violence
COVID-19
Pandemic
Lockdown
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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