Abstract
Purpose
The study explores patterns of intimate terrorism (IT) and situational couple violence (SCV) among people in heterosexual dating, cohabiting, and married relationships. The analysis examines differences in victimization for current and former relationships and gender differences in the association between union form and violence types. The study also examines the associations between IT, SCV, and post-breakup violence.
Method
Analyses are conducted using the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Study (NISVS). The dataset includes information about a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. The NISVS measures union status for respondents’ relationships with each IPV perpetrator they report. Analyses are conducted separately on current partner (n = 6071) and former partner unions (n = 15,426).
Results
Multivariate models show that for current partners, IT victimization is gender-symmetric and highest in informal relationships. When former partners are analyzed, IT victimization is highest among those who are cohabiting and is much more common among women than men. Analyses of violent perpetrators also show that IT victimization increases the risk of post-breakup violence for women and men.
Conclusion
Analyses confirm the importance of assessing IT in former relationships due to the selectivity of current relationships out of violence. The findings suggest that studies focusing on current unions substantially overestimate gender symmetry in IT victimization.
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Notes
The NISVS asked about relationship status at the time of last victimization before asking whether respondents were still together with their partner the last time violence occurred. As a result, it seems that many separated respondents were confused about the best way to answer. We recovered 449 cases of former partners by examining qualitative responses within the “other” category of the question measuring relationship status at last victimization. We include these recovered responses into the category of post-separation violence, since a response such as “ex-wife” would indicate that the partner was an ex the last time violence occurred.
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Funding
Funding for the NISVS comes from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control with support from the National Institute of Justice and the Department of Defense.
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Cunningham, M., Anderson, K.L. Union Status, Union Dissolution, and Intimate Partner Violence: Investigating Johnson’s Typology Among Heterosexual Dating, Cohabiting, and Married Couples. J Fam Viol 39, 91–103 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-022-00448-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-022-00448-9