Intimate Partner Violence
Definitions
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), also called domestic violence, battering or spouse abuse, is violence committed by a spouse, ex-spouse, current or former girlfriend or boyfriend. Intimate partner violence is a serious, preventable public health problem that affects millions of Americans. The term "intimate partner violence" describes physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse. IPV can vary in frequency and severity. It occurs on a continuum, ranging from one hit that may or may not impact the victim to chronic, severe battering. This type of violence can occur among heterosexual or same-sex couples and does not require sexual intimacy.
Intimates are distinguished from –
- other relatives (parent, child, sibling, grandparent, in-law, cousin)
- acquaintances (friend, co-worker, neighbor, schoolmate, someone known)
- strangers (anyone not previously known by the victim)
Domestic violence includes:
intimate partner violence as well as violence between family members.
Domestic violence can also be defined as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.
Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone.
- Physical Abuse: Hitting, slapping, shoving, grabbing, pinching, biting, hair-pulling, etc. Physical abuse also includes denying a partner medical care or forcing alcohol and/or drug use.
- Sexual Abuse: Coercing or attempting to coerce any sexual contact or behavior without consent. Sexual abuse includes, but is certainly not limited to marital rape, attacks on sexual parts of the body, forcing sex after physical violence has occurred, or treating one in a sexually demeaning manner.
- Emotional Abuse: Undermining an individual's sense of self-worth and/or self-esteem. This may include, but is not limited to constant criticism, diminishing one's abilities, name-calling, or damaging one's relationship with his or her children.
- Economic Abuse: Making or attempting to make an individual financially dependent by maintaining total control over financial resources, withholding one's access to money, or forbidding one's attendance at school or employment.
- Psychological Abuse: Causing fear by intimidation; threatening physical harm to self, partner, children, or partner's family or friends; destruction of pets and property; and forcing isolation from family, friends, or school and/or work.
Dating Violence
Dating violence is defined as the physical, sexual, or psychological/emotional violence within a dating relationship. Each year, 1 in 11 adolescents reports being a victim of physical dating violence (CDC 2006). Many of these cases can be prevented by helping adolescents develop skills for healthy relationships with others (Foshee et al. 2005).
Violence between intimates is difficult to measure –
because it often occurs in private, and victims are often reluctant to report incidents to anyone because of shame or fear of reprisal.
Sources
National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). See also NCVS methodology.
Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) as presented in Homicide Trends in the United States.
Four Main Types of Intimate Partner Violence (Saltzman et al. 2002)
Physical violence is the intentional use of physical force with the potential for causing death, disability, injury, or harm. Physical violence includes, but is not limited to, scratching; pushing; shoving; throwing; grabbing; biting; choking; shaking; slapping; punching; burning; use of a weapon; and use of restraints or one's body, size, or strength against another person. Violence between intimates can also include homicides and robberies committed by intimates.
Sexual violence is divided into three categories: 1) use of physical force to compel a person to engage in a sexual act against his or her will, whether or not the act is completed; 2) attempted or completed sex act involving a person who is unable to understand the nature or condition of the act, to decline participation, or to communicate unwillingness to engage in the sexual act, e.g., because of illness, disability, or the influence of alcohol or other drugs, or because of intimidation or pressure; and 3) abusive sexual contact.
Threats of physical or sexual violence is the use of words, gestures, or weapons to communicate the intent to cause death, disability, injury, fear, or physical harm.
Psychological/emotional violence involves trauma to the victim caused by acts, threats of acts, or coercive tactics. Psychological and/or emotional abuse can include, but is not limited to, humiliating the victim, controlling what the victim can and cannot do, withholding information from the victim, deliberately doing something to make the victim feel diminished or embarrassed, isolating the victim from friends and family, and denying the victim access to money or other basic resources. It is considered psychological/emotional violence when there has been prior physical or sexual violence or prior threat of physical or sexual violence.
In addition, stalking is often included among the types of IPV. Stalking generally refers to "harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at a person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person's property" (Tjaden & Thoennes 1998).
