General Offending and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration in Young Adulthood: A Dutch Longitudinal Study.

Janna Verbruggen,Christopher D Maxwell,Arjan A J Blokland,Amanda L Robinson

doi:10.1177/0306624x211022657

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between general offending and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration in young adulthood, using a Dutch longitudinal study. Young adults were followed over four waves, and self-reported data on general offending, IPV perpetration, and a number of individual characteristics were collected. Results of random effects models demonstrated that young adults involved in more diverse offending behavior reported higher levels of different types of IPV perpetration, even when individual factors were taken into account. Moreover, logistic regression analyses showed that general offending was also related to an increased likelihood of continuity in IPV perpetration. Taken together, the findings indicate that it is useful to view IPV perpetration as part of a broader criminal career.

Highlights

Intimate partner violence (IPV), which can consist of a range of behaviors including physical aggression, psychological abuse, and sexual coercion, is a serious social problem (World Health Organization, 2017)
Estimates of the prevalence of IPV are lower in Western-European countries such as the Netherlands, compared to the US (World Health Organization, 2013), as are rates of violence generally (United Nations, 2016). As it is largely unknown whether these types of cross-national differences and generally lower rates of violence impact the generalizability of research findings on the association between general offending and IPV perpetration, the current study aims to build upon existing research evidence by examining the association between general offending and IPV perpetration using a longitudinal dataset from the Netherlands
Given that the current study aims to examine the association between general offending and IPV perpetration throughout young adulthood, we focus on a subsample of young adults who reported being in a relationship, and answered questions about IPV, in at least two of the four waves (N = 352)

Summary

Introduction

Intimate partner violence (IPV), which can consist of a range of behaviors including physical aggression, psychological abuse, and sexual coercion, is a serious social problem (World Health Organization, 2017). Research conducted in the EU countries has shown that on average 20% of women have suffered from physical IPV, 43% have reported psychological abuse, and 7% have experienced sexual IPV, since the age of 15 (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights [FRA], 2014). Dutch research indicated that 6% of adults have experienced physical, sexual, and/or psychological IPV over the past 5 years, with significantly more women (8%) than men (5%) experiencing victimization (Van der Veen & Bogaerts, 2010). Prevalence rates of IPV perpetration and victimization are highest among young adults (Desmarais et al, 2012; FRA, 2014). To illustrate, Johnson et al (2015) studied the development of IPV perpetration from ages 13 to 28, and found that prevalence of IPV perpetration peaks around age 20, and declines throughout young adulthood

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