Violent Childhood Experiences and Intimate Partner Violence Among Married U.S. Soldiers Who Deployed to Iraq

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe association between intimate partner violence perpetration and violent adverse childhood experiences has not been established among Active Duty soldiers who have served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. In this study, 691 Active Duty soldiers were surveyed anonymously 6 months after they returned from Iraq. Results show that 9.8% of soldiers (n = 67) perpetrated intimate partner violence in the past year and that experiencing childhood physical abuse and sexual abuse were independently associated with intimate partner violence after adjusting for other risk factors. The findings of this study may help fill gaps in the understanding of this association and can help better identify soldiers at risk for perpetrating intimate partner violence.