Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence and Associated Risk Factors Among Married Enlisted Female Soldiers

Abstract

A sample of 248 enlisted active duty females married to civilian spouses completed a self-report survey that asked about their own and their spouse's violence. The survey also asked about their sex-role attitudes, marital satisfaction, alcohol use, childhood trauma, and depression. Results identified patterns of intimate partner violence and their relationship to the psychosocial risk factors. Females experiencing severe bidirectional violence were likely to be the most depressed and to have a history of child sexual abuse. Females experiencing minor bidirectional violence did not share any of the psychosocial risk factors found for severe bidirectional violence. Females perpetrating unilateral violence toward their spouses were found to be as satisfied in their marriages as nonviolent couples and less depressed than the females experiencing bidirectional violence.