U.S. Changes in Intimate Partner Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to determine rates of change in intimate partner violence (IPV) across the first year of the pandemic in the U.S. and the relationship between IPV and depression symptomology and perceived stress. Using a novel dataset of four waves of data collected over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., a series of generalized linear mixed models were performed to determine overall changes in IPV (i.e., psychological and physical) over time and the relationship between IPV and depression, measured by the PHQ-2, and stress, measured by the Perceived Stress Scale. Results indicate that psychological IPV increased slightly over the first year of the pandemic, while depression symptoms and perceived stress decreased over time though depression and stress remained stubbornly high. Findings suggest that people may attenuate to an ongoing and lengthy disaster, but that depression and stress remain alarmingly high.