The NESS Counseling Center provides a court referral and voluntary women's anger management/domestic violence group. This weekly group utilizes a psychoeducational and clinical approach, enabling women to learn tangible skills in dealing with their anger as well as identifying the underlying etiology of the deeper issues. Some women identify themselves as perpetrators while others are victims of domestic violence.

Regardless of the particular issue, the women form a very cohesive support system for one another, building on the experiences of each other and providing feedback in a confidential, safe and supportive environment.

Overview

Intimate partner violence—or IPV—is actual or threatened physical or sexual violence or psychological and emotional abuse directed toward a spouse, ex-spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend, or current or former dating partner. Intimate partners may be heterosexual or of the same sex. Some of the common terms used to describe intimate partner violence are domestic abuse, spouse abuse, domestic violence, courtship violence, battering, marital rape, and date rape (Saltzman, et al. 1999).

CDC uses the term intimate partner violence because it describes violence that occurs within all intimate relationships. Some of the other terms are overlapping and may be used to mean other forms of violence including abuse of elders, children, and siblings.

Occurrence

• Approximately 1.5 million women and 834,700 men are raped and/or physically assaulted by an intimate partner each year (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000a).

• Nearly two-thirds of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, or stalked since age 18 were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, boyfriend, or date (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000a).

• Among women who are physically assaulted or raped by an intimate partner, one in three is injured. Each year, more than 500,000 women injured as a result of IPV require medical treatment (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000a).

• As many as 324,000 women each year experience IPV during their pregnancy (Gazmararian, et al. 2000).

• Firearms were the major weapon type used in intimate partner homicides from 1981 to 1998 (Paulozzi, et al. 2001).

Consequences

• Intimate partner violence is associated with both short- and long-term problems, including physical injury and illness, psychological symptoms, economic costs, and death (National Research Council 1996).

• As a consequence of severe intimate partner violence, female victims are more likely than male victims to need medical attention and take time off from work; they also spend more days in bed and suffer more from stress and depression (National Research Council 1996).

• Each year, thousands of American children witness IPV within their families. Witnessing violence is a risk factor for long-term physical and mental health problems, including alcohol and substance abuse, being a victim of abuse, and perpetrating IPV (Felitti, et al. 1998).

• The estimated yearly direct medical cost of caring for battered women is about $1.8 billion (Wisner, et at. 1999).

Groups at Risk

• More women than men experience intimate partner violence. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey, 1 out of 4 U.S. women has been physically assaulted or raped by an intimate partner; 1 out of every 14 U.S. men reported such an experience (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000a).

• Women are more likely than men to be murdered in the context of intimate partner violence. Women ages 20 to 29 years are at greatest risk of being killed by an intimate partner (Paulozzi, et al. 2001).
  
  
• Nearly one-third of African American women experience IPV in their lifetimes compared with one-fourth of white women (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000b).
  

Risk Factors

• Alcohol use is frequently associated with violence between intimate partners. It is estimated that in 45% of cases of IPV, men had been drinking, and in about 20% of cases, women had been drinking (Roizen 1993).

• One study recently found that male partners’ unemployment and drug or alcohol use were associated with increased risk for physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse (Coker, et al. 2000).

• Witnessing IPV as a child or adolescent, or experiencing violence from caregivers as a child, increases one’s risk of both perpetrating IPV and becoming a victim of IPV (Straus and Gelles 1990).

• Men who are physically violent towards their partners are also likely to be sexually violent towards their partners and are likely to use violence towards children (Straus and Gelles 1990).

• Perpetrators of IPV may lack some social skills, such as lack of communication skills, particularly in the context of problematic situations with their intimate partners (Holtzworth-Monroe, et al. 1997).

• Research has determined that violent husbands report more anger and hostility toward women when compared with nonviolent husbands (Holtzworth-Monroe, et al. 1997).

• A high proportion of IPV perpetrators report more depression, lower self-esteem, and more aggression than non-violent intimate partners. Evidence indicates that violent intimate partners may be more likely to have personality disorders such as schizoidal/borderline personality, antisocial or narcissistic behaviors, and dependency and attachment problems (Holtzworth-Monroe, et al. 1997).