Exploring the Overlap Between Offending and Victimization Within Intimate Partner Violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Over the past five decades two parallel bodies of literature have emerged; one examines intimate partner violence (IPV), the other examines the overlap between victimization and offending. Until recently, these two bodies of literature had yet to intersect. The current study provides an exploratory investigation into the overlap between victimization and offending within IPV with a Bosnian adult sample. Utilizing self-report data, 200 Bosnian adults were classified into one of four distinct groups: nonviolent (no history of IPV victimization and/or IPV perpetration), victims (history of IPV victimization only), offenders (history of IPV perpetration only), and victim–offenders (history of IPV victimization and IPV perpetration). Over half of the sample (54%) indicated no prior experiences with IPV within their intimate relationships (current or past). For individuals who characterized their intimate relationships as volatile, analyses indicated that more individuals were involved in mutually violent (having experienced both victimization and perpetration) relationships than solely exclusive behaviors (having experienced only victimization or engaged in perpetration but not both). Moreover, a series of bivariate and multivariate analyses revealed important demographic and behavioral differences between the groupings. Policy implications, as well as suggestions for future research, are presented.