Mental Health of Victims of Intimate Partner Violence: Results From a National Epidemiologic Survey

Abstract

An increase in dating violence has heightened public concern over intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence is defined as any threatened, attempted, or completed physical or sexual violence, and emotional abuse inflicted by a spouse, ex-spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend, dating partner, or date (1). Approximately 30% of all female homicides are committed by a male intimate (2). The World Health Organization estimates that intimate partner violence costs the United States $12.6 billion or 0.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) annually (3). Intimate partner violence accounts for 20% of nonfatal violent crimes against women and 3% of those against men (4). Accumulating evidence relates intimate partner violence to life threatening and significant adverse physical health consequences. Furthermore, intimate partner violence is associated with depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse (5, 6). The National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) reported that 17.4% and 18.4% of women and men respectively were victims of intimate partner violence during the course of their current marriage or cohabitation (7). Similarly, rates in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) were 15.2% for females and 20.3% for males (8). Although prior national studies have examined the prevalence and predictive value of psychiatric disorders for intimate partner violence victimization, their cross-sectional design does not permit estimation of the effects of intimate partner violence on risk of incident or new onset psychiatric disorders. By drawing on data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) a large, nationally representative sample of US adults, we sought to compare the 12-month incidence of psychiatric disorders in individuals who were victims of intimate partner violence during the past 12 months with those who were not victims, and examine whether increased frequency of exposure to violent acts is associated with an elevated incidence of psychiatric disorders.