Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Involves Violent Acts

Intimate partner violence (IPV) involves violent acts including murder, rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault between individuals in intimate relationships such as current spouses, former spouses, current boy/girl friend or former boy / girl friend. The concept of IPV can be thought of in two ways or types, in both a narrow and a broad sense. The narrow usage refers to acts of physical assault on a partner in a dating, cohabiting, or marital relationship. The broad usage refers to any behavior that demeans or controls the partner, including sexual coercion and psychological attacks (Smithey & Straus, 2002).

Smithey and Straus (2002) report physical assault on a partner in an intimate relationship may be the most prevalent type of violent crime. Among students in the U.S.A. And Canada, numerous studies of dating couples found annual prevalence rate of about 30%. The high rate among university students is probably because they are in the prime ages for violent crime. Studies of Canadian and U.S. Of married and cohabiting couple households reveals that IPV occurs in about 16% of such households a year. Over the course of the relationship, the figure is about 30%. Moreover, the true rate of IPV may be twice as high. If so, the majority of American couples have experienced at least one violent incident. The annual rate of 16% is about six times higher than the rate of assaults by non-family members reported in the U.S. National Crime Victimization Survey. The situation is similar in many other countries.

IPV has major health and public-health consequences. IPV is the reason 25%-50% of homeless families have lost their homes. Such victimization is also associated with nearly $6 billion in health-care costs and lost work productivity per year. Although psychological abuse can be harder to define than overt physical abuse, it has been found to cause at least as much damage. Furthermore, partner abuse of pregnant women has been associated with preterm deliveries of low-birth-weight babies. Domestic partner abuse puts children of the couple at risk for lower intellectual functioning, being victims of child abuse as children, and of intimate partner violence as adults. This form of family violence also puts children at higher risk of having emotional problems and engaging in drug abuse. Given such risks, the presence of intimate partner abuse in a family should be an important consideration in child custody issues. Domestic violence results in homicide as well. Victims who live in a household where weapons are present and drugs are used have a greater risk of being killed by their abuser (Dryden-Edwards, 2010).