Incidence and Prevalence of Dating Partner Abuse and Its Relationship to Dating Practices

Abstract

Although physical violence between couples has been widely researched, few estimates of the extent of psychological abuse between intimates have been published. A sample of 623 college-age women completed the Abusive Behavior Inventory with reference to the previous 6-month period (incidence) and their entire dating history (prevalence). The 6-month incidence rate of physical abuse (26.8%) was comparable to previously reported rates. Over 77% reported experiencing some form of psychological abuse during the same 6-month period. Lifetime prevalence was 43.1% for physical abuse and 91.2% for any psychologically abusive incident. Participant responses estimating the number of previous sexual and emotional partners, the amount of perceived male partner control in the typical relationship, and the length of the typical relationship accounted for a small but significant proportion of the variance in levels of both physical and psychological abuse.

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