The Mediatisation of Femicide and Intimate Partner Violence in Romania: Media Exposure, Perceived Safety, and Relationship-Specific Psychological Vulnerability Among Women

Abstract

Femicide and intimate partner violence (IPV) represent important public health, social, and human rights concerns. Beyond their direct consequences for victims, media coverage of severe gender-based violence may also be associated with broader perceptions of personal safety among women. This study examined the associations between exposure to media coverage of femicide, perceived personal safety, levels of reported interpersonal abuse experiences, and current relationship-specific psychological vulnerability among women in Romania. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional study was conducted with 98 women aged 19–65 years who completed an online questionnaire in Romanian or Hungarian. Measures included an adapted Media Exposure Scale (MES), the Personal Safety Perception Scale (PSPS-26), an Abuse Experience Scale (AES), and a Partner Vulnerability Scale (PVS) administered to currently partnered participants (n = 71). Simple linear regression indicated a significant negative association between media exposure and perceived safety, with media exposure accounting for 53.1% of the variance in perceived safety, F(1, 96) = 108.79, p < .001, β = -.729. A corresponding Pearson correlation was also statistically significant, r(96) = -.729, p < .001. Group comparisons showed no significant difference in perceived safety between participants with lower and higher levels of reported interpersonal abuse experiences, t(96) = 1.05, p = .298, d = .210. In contrast, currently partnered participants with higher levels of reported abuse experiences reported significantly greater relationship-specific psychological vulnerability than those with lower levels of reported abuse experiences, Welch’s t(39.72) = -4.21, p < .001, d = .954. The association between relationship-specific vulnerability and generalized perceived safety was small and not statistically significant, rₛ(69) = -.077, p = .520. The findings are consistent with theoretical perspectives on heuristic processing of risk, including the availability and affect heuristics, but the cross-sectional design does not permit causal conclusions. The results highlight the importance of distinguishing generalized perceptions of safety from relationship-specific vulnerability and support further investigation of how media exposure and contextual experiences of interpersonal violence relate to women's perceptions of safety.