Intimate Partner Violence: Consequences
Cost to Society
- Costs of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in 1995 exceeded an estimated $5.8 billion. These costs included nearly $4.1 billion in the direct costs of medical and mental health care and nearly $1.8 billion in the indirect costs of lost productivity (CDC 2003). This is generally considered an underestimate because the costs associated with the criminal justice system were not included.
- When updated to 2003 dollars, IPV costs exceeded $8.3 billion, which included $460 million for rape, $6.2 billion for physical assault, $461 million for stalking, and $1.2 billion in the value of lost lives (Max et al. 2004).
- Victims of severe IPV lose nearly 8 million days of paid work-the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs-and almost 5.6 million days of household productivity each year (CDC 2003).
- Women who experience severe aggression by men (e.g., not being allowed to go to work or school, or having their lives or their children's lives threatened) are more likely to have been unemployed in the past, have health problems, and be receiving public assistance (Lloyd and Taluc 1999).
Consequences
In general, victims of repeated violence over time experience more serious consequences than victims of one-time incidents (Johnson and Leone 2005). The following list describes some, but not all, of the consequences of IPV.
Physical
In 2005, 329 males and 1181 females were murdered by an intimate partner (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2007).
As many as 42% of women and 20% of men who were physically assaulted since age 18 sustained injuries during their most recent victimization. Most injuries, such as scratches, bruises, and welts, were minor (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000).
More severe physical consequences of IPV may occur depending on severity and frequency of abuse (Campbell et al. 2002; Heise and Garcia-Moreno 2002; Plichta 2004; Tjaden and Thoennes 2000). Physical violence by an intimate partner has also been associated with a number of adverse health outcomes (Breiding, Black, and Ryan, 2008). Several health conditions associated with intimate partner violence may be a direct result of the physical violence (for example, bruises, knife wounds, broken bones, back or pelvic pain, headaches). Studies have also demonstrated the impact of intimate partner violence on the endocrine and immune systems through chronic stress or other mechanisms (Crofford, 2007; Leserman and Drossman, 2007) Examples include:
- Fibromyalgia
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Gynecological disorders
- Pregnancy difficulties like low birth weight babies and perinatal deaths
- Sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS
- Central nervous system disorders
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Heart or circulatory conditions
Children may become injured during IPV incidents between their parents. A large overlap exists between IPV and child maltreatment (Appel and Holden 1998).
Psychological
Physical violence is typically accompanied by emotional or psychological abuse (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000). IPV-whether sexual, physical, or psychological-can lead to various psychological consequences for victims (Bergen 1996; Coker et al. 2002; Heise and Garcia-Moreno 2002; Roberts, Klein, and Fisher 2003):
- Depression
- Antisocial behavior
- Suicidal behavior in females
- Anxiety
- Low self-esteem
- Inability to trust others, especially in intimate relationships
- Fear of intimacy
- Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
- Emotional detachment
- Sleep disturbances
- Flashbacks
- Replaying assault in the mind
Social
Victims of IPV sometimes face the following social consequences (Heise and Garcia-Moreno 2002; Plichta 2004):
- Restricted access to services
- Strained relationships with health providers and employers
- Isolation from social networks
Health Behaviors
Women with a history of IPV are more likely to display behaviors that present further health risks (e.g., substance abuse, alcoholism, suicide attempts) than women without a history of IPV.
IPV is associated with a variety of negative health behaviors (Heise and Garcia-Moreno 2002; Plichta 2004; Roberts, Auinger, and Klein 2005; Silverman et al. 2001). Studies show that the more severe the violence, the stronger its relationship to negative health behaviors by victims.
- Engaging in high-risk sexual behavior
- Unprotected sex
- Decreased condom use
- Early sexual initiation
- Choosing unhealthy sexual partners
- Multiple sex partners
- Trading sex for food, money, or other items
- Using harmful substances
- Smoking cigarettes
- Drinking alcohol
- Drinking alcohol and driving
- Illicit drug use
- Unhealthy diet-related behaviors
- Fasting
- Vomiting
- Abusing diet pills
- Overeating
- Overuse of health services
References
Appel AE, Holden GW. 1998 The co-occurrence of spouse and physical child abuse: a review and appraisal. J Fam Psychol 12:578–599.
Bergen RK. 1996. Wife rape: understanding the response of survivors and service providers. Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage.
Breiding MJ, Black MC, Ryan GW. 2008. Chronic disease and health risk behaviors associated with intimate partner violence—18 U.S. states/territories, 2005. Ann Epidemiol 18:538–544.
Bureau of Justice Statistics. Homicide trends in the U.S.: intimate homicide [online] 2007 [cited 2009 Nov 16]. Available from: http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/intimatestab.htm.
Campbell JC, Jones AS, Dienemann J, Kub J, Schollenberger J, O'Campo P, et al. 2002. Intimate partner violence and physical health consequences. Arch Intern Med 162(10):1157–1163.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Costs of intimate partner violence against women in the United States. Atlanta (GA): CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; 2003.
Coker AL, Davis KE, Arias I, Desai S, Sanderson M, Brandt HM, et al. 2002. Physical and mental health effects of intimate partner violence for men and women. Am J Prev Med 23(4):260–268.
Crofford LJ. Violence, stress, and somatic syndromes. 2007. Trauma Violence Abuse 8:299–313.
Heise L, Garcia-Moreno C. 2002. Violence by intimate partners. In: Krug E, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, et al., editors. World report on violence and health. Geneva (Switzerland): World Health Organization. p. 87–121.
Johnson MP, Leone JM. The differential effects of intimate terrorism and situational couple violence. J Fam Issues 26(3):322–349.
Leserman J, Drossman DA. 2007. Relationship of abuse history to functional gastrointestinal disorders and symptoms. Trauma Violence Abuse 8:331–343.
Lloyd S, Taluc N. 1999. The effects of male violence on female employment. Violence Against Women 5:370–392.
Max W, Rice DP, Finkelstein E, Bardwell RA, Leadbetter S. 2004. The economic toll of intimate partner violence against women in the United States. Violence Vict 19(3):259–72.
Parkinson GW, Adams RC, Emerling FG. 2001. Maternal domestic violence screening in an office-based pediatric practice. Pediatrics 108(3):E43.
Plichta SB. 2004. Intimate partner violence and physical health consequences: policy and practice implications. J Interpers Violence 19(11):1296–1323.
Roberts TA, Auinger P, Klein JD. 2005. Intimate partner abuse and the reproductive health of sexually active female adolescents. J Adolesc Health 36(5):380–385.
Roberts TA, Klein JD, Fisher S. 2003. Longitudinal effect of intimate partner abuse on high-risk behavior among adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 157(9):875–981.
Silverman JG, Raj A, Mucci L, Hathaway J. 2001. Dating violence against adolescent girls and associated substance use, unhealthy weight control, sexual risk behavior, pregnancy, and suicidality. JAMA 286(5):572–579.
Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Extent, nature, and consequences of intimate partner violence: findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington (DC): Department of Justice (US); 2000. Publication No. NCJ 181867. Available from: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubssum/181867.htm
Contact Us:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC)
4770 Buford Hwy, NE
MS F-63
Atlanta, GA 30341-3717 - 800-CDC-INFO
(800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348
New Hours of Operation:
8am-8pm ET/
Monday-Friday
Closed Holidays - cdcinfo@cdc.gov
