Research article
Physical and mental health effects of intimate partner violence for men and women

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Abstract

Background

Few population-based studies have assessed the physical and mental health consequences of both psychological and physical intimate partner violence (IPV) among women or men victims. This study estimated IPV prevalence by type (physical, sexual, and psychological) and associated physical and mental health consequences among women and men.

Methods

The study analyzed data from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) of women and men aged 18 to 65. This random-digit-dial telephone survey included questions about violent victimization and health status indicators.

Results

A total of 28.9% of 6790 women and 22.9% of 7122 men had experienced physical, sexual, or psychological IPV during their lifetime. Women were significantly more likely than men to experience physical or sexual IPV (relative risk [RR]=2.2, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.1, 2.4) and abuse of power and control (RR=1.1, 95% CI=1.0, 1.2), but less likely than men to report verbal abuse alone (RR=0.8, 95% CI=0.7, 0.9). For both men and women, physical IPV victimization was associated with increased risk of current poor health; depressive symptoms; substance use; and developing a chronic disease, chronic mental illness, and injury. In general, abuse of power and control was more strongly associated with these health outcomes than was verbal abuse. When physical and psychological IPV scores were both included in logistic regression models, higher psychological IPV scores were more strongly associated with these health outcomes than were physical IPV scores.

Conclusions

Both physical and psychological IPV are associated with significant physical and mental health consequences for both male and female victims.

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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