Heterosexual Intimate Partner Violence among Navy Personnel: Gender Differences in Incidence and Consequences

Abstract

This study examined the incidence and consequences of receipt of intimate partner violence (IPV) as reported by 1,035 (576 female and 459 male) Navy personnel during their second year of service. Overall, 21.1% of respondents reported that they had been victims of some form of IPV during their second year of service, of which 10.5% of respondents experienced moderate IPV only and 10.6% experienced severe (with or without moderate) IPV. Women reported experiencing higher rates of moderate IPV only (12.2 vs. 8.2% of men), whereas men reported higher rates of severe IPV (16.7 vs. 6.2% of women). With regard to injury, slightly more female (54%) than male (45%) IPV victims reported one or more forms of injury. Male victims, compared with female victims, were more likely to report that they were restraining their partner or had touched their partner in a sexual way prior to their partners' violence. After controlling for pre-military levels of trauma symptoms, women with past-year experiences of IPV, compared with those with no past-year IPV, had significantly higher levels of all 10 types of trauma symptoms assessed; for men, IPV was associated with significantly higher scores on all trauma symptom scales except for those related to sexual concerns/behaviors.