Research articlePhysical and mental health effects of intimate partner violence for men and women
Introduction
Despite the increasingly well-documented literature on the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in clinical1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and population-based studies16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and its impact on mental health,28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 little epidemiologic research has focused on its long-term, physical health consequences,43, 44 particularly among male victims. Furthermore, with noted exceptions,15, 44, 45 the majority of past studies addressing the health effects of IPV measured physical assaults alone without considering the co-existing chronic psychological abuse characteristic of violent relationships. This study adds to existing literature by describing the health effects of physical and psychological IPV on women and men. This is one of the first reports of a population-based study to assess associations among physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and current and long-term mental and physical health of female and male victims.
Section snippets
Methods
This study analyzed data from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) conducted by Tjaden and Thoennes.46, 47 This random-digit-dial telephone survey of 8001 men and 8005 women, sampled to be representative of the U.S. population, estimated rates of sexual assaults, physical assaults, and stalking victimization among men and women. A simple random sample of working residential phone numbers was drawn, and interviews were conducted from November 1995 to May 1996. Tjaden and Thoennes22
results
The lifetime prevalence of physical IPV alone was 13.3% for women and 5.8% for men; the prevalence of sexual IPV alone was 4.3% for women and 0.2% for men; and the prevalence of psychological IPV alone was 12.1% for women and 17.3% for men (Table 1). Women were significantly more likely than men to report sexual or physical IPV during their lifetime. Although women were significantly less likely than men to report verbal abuse alone (adjusted relative risk [aRR]=0.8, 95% CI=0.7–0.9), women were
Discussion
Our analyses indicate that women experiencing IPV are more likely to report poor physical and mental health. These results are consistent with those of other studies.29, 31, 44, 45, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 Koss and Heslet60 noted that various processes may contribute to health outcomes and perceptions of both health outcomes. Resnick et al.43 found that many physical symptoms reported by abused women were similar to symptoms for anxiety and depression, further indicating a relationship with
Conclusions
Our finding that physical and psychological IPV may produce long-term adverse physical and mental health effects for both women and men has important implications for intervention and prevention efforts. If IPV can be identified early, interventions could be developed to reduce the impact of IPV on mental and physical health status.66, 67
Screening for IPV victimization among women has been recommended practice for several years now.68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77 Our data support the
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