Intimate Partner Violence

by

Cheryl Regehr

Introduction

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is any behavior in an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological, or sexual harm to those in the relationship. It includes acts of physical aggression (slapping, hitting, kicking, or beating), psychological abuse (intimidation, constant belittling, or intimidation), forced sexual intercourse, or any other controlling behavior (isolating a person from family and friends, monitoring his or her movements, or restricting access to information or assistance). This definition includes current and former spouses and dating partners, and it also includes people in both heterosexual and same-sex relationships. This is differentiated from the earlier term “domestic violence,” which tended to refer to violence between spouses and in particular was often used synonymously with “woman abuse” and “wife battering” due to the fact that women have primarily been the victims of spousal violence throughout history. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (see Statistics Resources), intimate partner violence accounted for 22 percent of violent crimes against women between 2001 and 2005 in the United States and 4 percent of violent crimes against men. Thirty percent of homicides of women and 5 percent of homicides of men were committed by their intimate partners. On average between 2001 and 2005 children were residents of the households experiencing intimate partner violence in 38 percent of the incidents involving female victims and 21 percent of the incidents involving male victims. A 2005 survey of over twenty-four thousand women in fifteen countries conducted by the World Health Organization (see Statistics Resources) revealed that women who reported intimate partner violence also reported significantly poorer health status, emotional distress, and both suicidal ideation and attempts.

Introductory Works

This section begins with some important historical works that provided early insights into the issue of intimate partner violence, including McLeod 1980, Pleck 2004, Straus, et al. 2006, and Walker 1999. Early writers in this area focused on the task of identifying domestic violence and in particular violence against women as a problem. These early books also identified the outcomes of the violence in terms of the mental health and the social functioning of victims, the subtle dynamics within the family that allowed the violence to continue, patterns of violence, and how these factors combined to trap battered women in their homes. A major task was identifying why women did not merely leave situations where they were abused. Subsequent writers, for instance Roberts 2002 and Straus, et al. 2006, have produced good overview texts that can serve as introductory but broaden the scope of analysis to include special issues faced by victims of family violence whose circumstances differ. This includes analysis from multidisciplinary and multinational perspectives (Klein 1998), analyses of issues faced by those who are representatives of minority groups (Alaggia and Vine 2006; also see Ethnically Diverse Communities) and those who have unequal rights under the law (see Legal Responses), and the issues faced by children who witnesses violence (Alaggia and Vine 2006; also see Child Witnesses). These resources have also begun to consider intervention in a much broader context than was originally envisioned and have moved from individual approaches to familial- and community-based approaches as well as social action (Roberts 2002; also see Interventions).

• Alaggia, Ramona, and Cathy Vine, eds. 2006. Cruel but not unusual: Violence in Canadian families. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

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  This uniquely Canadian book addresses forms of violence in families that are of primary use for social work students, faculty and practitioners. It provides societal, legal and clinical information on such topics as violence against the elderly, children, intimate partners, and includes attention to Aboriginal, francophone and immigrant minority groups.

• Klein, Renata C. A., ed. 1998. Multidisciplinary perspectives on family violence. New York: Routledge.

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  Contributors to this edited book present family violence issues in their countries of origin, including Denmark, France, Germany, Britain, Greece, Poland, Spain and the United States. Perspectives come from various areas of study (psychology, sociology and anthropology) and primarily focus on theories of violence in families rather than intervention strategies.

• McLeod, Linda. 1987. Other side of the mountain: Preventing wife battering in Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

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  Documents significant gains being made, “applauding our progress” in bringing the problem of woman abuse from the private sphere into the public domain. Nevertheless she identified that despite a dramatic rise in services, the problem was not diminishing, and the original formulation of wife battering did not fully account for the complexity of the battering relationship.

• McLeod, Linda. 1980. Wife battering in Canada: The vicious circle. Ottawa: Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

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  This was the first attempt to estimate the incidence of wife assault in Canada and suggested that one in ten Canadian women were victims of intimate violence. Her work was instrumental in changing public policy in Canada and bringing about funding for shelters and programs for battered women.

• Pleck, Elizabeth. 2004. Domestic tyranny: The making of social policy against family violence from colonial times to the present. New York: Oxford University Press.

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  First published in 1987. Pleck is a professor of history and human and community development and thus brings to the discussion of intimate personal violence a somewhat unique perspective that is important grounding for students and scholars in the field. Her work reviews legal, political, and medical campaigns against domestic violence from colonial times to the present.

• Roberts, Albert R. 2002. Handbook of domestic violence intervention strategies. New York: Oxford University Press.

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  Provides a range of perspectives related to theory; policy; legal responses; and health, mental health, and counseling interventions. It provides a good foundation for those wishing an overview of the field. Contains twenty-three chapters written by practitioners and scholars.

• Straus, Murray A., Richard J. Gelles, and Suzanne K. Steinmetz. 2006. Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

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  First published in 1980. One of the standard introductory texts on family violence. Based on a seven-year study of over two thousand families, this book covers both spousal violence and child abuse and the relationship between the two.

• Walker, Lenore E. A. 1999. The battered woman syndrome. New York: Springer.

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  First published as The Battered Woman in 1979. This book was the first to consider patterns of abuse in relationships and propose the concept of the cycle of violence. This book also gave rise to the notion of learned helplessness in battered women, which has been subsequently used as a legal defense strategy (see Legal Responses) in cases of battered women who kill their abusive husbands. A highly controversial but important historical piece.