Domestic violence: assessment by Russian households

The article gives an overview of the methods for studying domestic violence and a retrospective analysis of the causes of its extension on the basis of previous studies. It presents the main results of the sociological survey The Issue of Forming New Models of Family Relationships in the North-West Russia (Karelia) conducted in November 2014 by the Institute of Socio-Economic Studies of Population RAS and the Institute of Economics of the Karelian Research Center RAS. The survey provides information on gender roles and attitudes in Karelian families, distribution of household duties between spouses, incidence of conflicts and spouses’ notion of who is the main victim of domestic violence. A special attention is given to the problem of child abuse and physical punishment. At the end of the article there is a legal evaluation of domestic violence by people and their perception of the present institutional provisions for protection of the victim of violence.