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- Page navigation anchor for RE: Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence and Beliefs About Partner Violence Screening Among Young MenRE: Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence and Beliefs About Partner Violence Screening Among Young Men
I very much appreciated the article by Walsh et al. and thought it brought up two very good points.
First, it furthers the data supporting the need for primary care physicians to be aware that their male patients may be victims of IPV (1 in 4 men surveyed).(1) From Straus and Gelles’ work in the 1970s and '80s using the National Family Violence Survey, which targeted married and cohabiting couples' use of violence in relationships,(2,3) to Archer’s extensive meta-analysis of the IPV research in the '80s and '90s,(4) to Whitaker et al.’s longitudinal study of young adults (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health),(5) it is clear that men do experience violence from romantic partners.
In the last of these, Whitaker et al. found that IPV was present in approximately 24% of intimate relationships.(5) Among these violent relationships, nearly 50% were comprised of bi-directional or reciprocal violence, while in the non-reciprocal half women were more frequently sole perpetrators of IPV according to both male (74.9%) and female (67.7%) reports.(5) Here the authors made note that reciprocal violence seemed to be more dangerous for both male and female victims, citing that men were injured in over one quarter of reciprocally violent cases.(5)
Second, as was described in the study by Walsh et al.(1) and also by Whitaker et al. above,(5) the rates of mutual or bi-directional violence are even higher than that of unidirectional viole...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for RE: Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence and Beliefs About Partner Violence Screening Among Young MenRE: Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence and Beliefs About Partner Violence Screening Among Young Men
To the editor:
Walsh et al determined that exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), either as a perpetrator or as a survivor, is pervasive amongst young, predominantly heterosexual men and that a majority of this group believes that it is appropriate for their physician to screen them for IPV.(1) The authors oversimplify the complexity of IPV, however, by focusing on the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) which emphasizes physical violence and does not adequately screen for other forms of IPV. As a result, the article perpetuates traditional notions of masculinity and may result in under recognition of this population.
The medical and anthropological communities, propelled by “second-wave feminism” in the 1960s,(2) began to examine IPV with increasing fervor in the 1970s. The CTS was developed in 1979 (3) and has become a reference standard against which other screening tools are often compared.(4) In the years since the creation of the CTS, however, our understanding of IPV has broadened. IPV as it’s currently defined includes emotional and sexual abuse, coercion, stalking, and intimidation between two people who are not necessary romantically involved.(5) An updated tool for IPV screening in the ambulatory setting is HITS (hurt, insult, threaten, scream), which acknowledges that patients encounter violence in many forms,(6,7) thus increasing the likelihood that they are identified and referred to the appropriate community resources.
It is commend...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.