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Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence in Emerging Adults

McKean, Tricia Jeanne

Abstract Details

2011, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Human Ecology.
Studies have consistently shown that women between the ages of 18 and 24 suffer the highest rates of intimate partner violence (IPV), with over half experiencing any IPV within their lifetime. Yet to date, no previous research has examined the period prevalence and the types, frequency and severity of violence experienced by women ages 18 to 25 across multiple intimate partners. The 18 to 25 year old age group is of particular significance because relationship patterns established at this time might set the stage for violence victimization across the lifetime. My objective was to describe the prevalence of intimate partner violence in women ages 18 to 25, across two time periods (lifetime, past year), by the type (physical, sexual and non-physical), frequency and severity of violence experienced, and by the number of abusive partners who perpetrated each type of violence. A total of 3568 women ages 18 to 64 were randomly sampled from the enrollment files of Group Health Cooperative, a large integrated health care delivery system providing health services and benefits to approximately 550,000 individuals in Washington State and northern Idaho. For the present paper, I included 287 women between the ages of 18 and 25, who reported having at least one intimate partner since turning age 18. During a telephone survey, participants were asked 5 questions from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and 10 questions from the Women’s Experience with Battering (WEB) to assess exposure to IPV suffered since age 18. For each BRFSS question, if respondents indicated that they had ever suffered the particular type of abuse in their adult lifetime (i.e., since turning age 18), they were then asked if they had experienced it in the last year. After reporting on IPV in those two specific time periods, participants were asked about the total number of partners who perpetrated the violence, the total number of times they experienced the violence across all partners, and their perceptions of its severity. My analysis found that lifetime prevalence of IPV was 31% and annual prevalence was 16.7%. Controlling behavior was the most prevalent type of abuse in this sample and was most likely to co-occur with physical abuse. Women were more likely to experience multiple forms of abuse as opposed to just one. Participants were unlikely to have more than one abusive partner, but were also unlikely experience only one or two occurrences of abuse. The majority of women’s abuse spanned less than one year and less than 10% of their adult life (since age 18 to present age). The majority of abused participants rated their violence as slightly violent or not violent at all. Women were at a 2.33-fold greater risk of reporting IPV if they also divulged a history of child abuse. The majority of abused women did not call the police, but those that did were more likely to rate the severity of their violence to be moderately or extremely severe.
Claire Kamp Dush (Advisor)
Amy Bonomi (Committee Member)
59 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • McKean, T. J. (2011). Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence in Emerging Adults [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306860590

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • McKean, Tricia. Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence in Emerging Adults. 2011. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306860590.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • McKean, Tricia. "Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence in Emerging Adults." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306860590

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)