Menstuff® has compiled the following information on Manufacturing Domestic Violence Statistics.
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Manufacturing Domestic Violence
Statistics
Using Statistics
Some Statistics to Consider
General Statistics
Financial Costs
Workplace Statistics
Victims & Perpetrators
Special Populations
Medical Consequences
Mental Health Consequences
Death
Stalking
Impact on Children
Dating Violence
Manufacturing Domestic Violence
Statistics
The terms "Domestic Violence" or "Violence against Women", which have been used interchangeably until now, inclusively cover all human interactions that the alleged female victim perceives as being uncomfortable, whether or not there has been any violence per se.
“Violence against Women” is defined to be whatever the individual woman feels uncomfortable with, no action is needed. Victimization statistics not only include the alleged physical offences, but verbal threats, either real or perceived, of them as well. Considering the nature of the questions many women, and most men who now are included in some surveys, are obviously lying as only about two thirds of women and only a handful of men in any given country answer in affirmative. It is obvious that at least some of the questions apply to every man, woman and child in every household.
The main problem with all victimization studies is, with a few exceptions, that there is no verification mechanism in place to establish the veracity of the subjective answers. Most humans will only divulge what they consider to be beneficial to the advancement of their personal interest, or at times even what they perceive to be the expectations of the interviewer. Often what is not said is more revealing than what is said.
Another universal anomaly is the practise to collect the DV data by gender specific survey questionnaires and then selectively issue the analysed results in either gender neutral or gender specific terms, depending on the desired outcome, i.e. that only women can be seen to be the victims and only men can be seen to be the perpetrators.
These "reports", hardly more than expressions of the researchers' personal bias and selectively used, are in turn used to justify the implementation of such draconian measures as the zero tolerance policies vis-à-vis spousal or child abuse where an allegation, rather than proof, is sufficient to have the accused removed from his home, with an accompanying restraining order. "Violence against Women" has now been stretched to cover the potential of violence as well, i.e. a hypothetical situation has become as valid as a real one. A professed fear, no matter how irrational, of someone is on par with action.
BJS Statisticians Callie Marie Rennison and Sarah Welchans report in their Intimate Partner Violence (May 2000, NCJ 178247 Rev. 7/14/00) that in 1998 women were victims in about 876,340 violent crimes and men were victims in about 157,330 violent crimes committed by an intimate partner.
Among victims of violence by an intimate partner, the percentage of women who reported the crime was greater in 1998 (59%) than in 1993 (48%). There was no significant difference between 1993 and 1998 in the percentage of men's reporting their victimization to the police.
Interesting that the percentage of men reporting their victimization is not mentioned.
However, on page 5 of their 1998 report, called Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes report that more men than women were victimized in 1998:
The NVAW Survey also found that 1.9 percent of surveyed women and 3.4 percent of surveyed men said that they were physically assaulted in the previous 12 months. These estimates equate to about 1.9 million women and about 3.2 million men who are physically assaulted annually in the United States.
Approximately 1.5 million, or 1.5 percent, of all surveyed women compared with 834,700, 0.9 percent, of all surveyed men said they were raped and/or physically assaulted by their intimate partner of the opposite sex in the previous 12 months.
Two years later the same authors, in their report called Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey, conclude that more women than men are victimized each year by their intimate partners of the opposite sex.
In the executive summary of the year 2000 report the authors, following the turnings of a torturous path, come to the conclusion that violence is a male characteristic:
Women living with female intimate partners experience less intimate partner violence than women living with male intimate partners.
Men living with male intimate partners experience more intimate partner violence than do men who live with female intimate partners.
They give somewhat different data on p. 30:
The survey also found that same-sex (women 39.2% and men 23.1%) cohabitants reported significantly more intimate partner violence than did opposite-sex cohabitants (women 21.7% and men 7.4%).
In short, they accept the data concerning men but not women.
The authors compare the different results obtained in three different studies and find that only the National Violence Against Women Surveys (NVAW), at times but not always (see their own 1998 study above), document that more women than men are victimized by their intimate partners.
While trying to explain the reasons for the differences Tjaden and Thoennes report that the latest NVAW study found that women were significantly more likely than men to report that they have been victims of intimate partner violence. Therefore, ignoring the fact that a report does not make a finding, they conclude that women experience more intimate partner violence than men.
Tjaden and Thoennes made the profound observation that if the other surveys only stopped asking women if they themselves were abusive there would be no problem with the data. They concede that in order to get higher reported victimization rates for women the perpetrator data that is collected from them would have to be eliminated. They also noted that results may be affected by the interviewer. All women subjects in the survey were interviewed by a female worker and half of the men were interviewed by a male, the other half by a female. No matter what the excuses, women clearly admit, if asked, that they are more likely to be the aggressors rather than the victims.
In their year 2000 report Tjaden and Thoennes found that women (26.7%) were twice as likely as men (13.5%) to make a police report. Rennison and Welchans on the other hand estimated that 48% of women made a report in 1993, in 1998 59% did likewise, which would indicate that increasingly more women are filing reports, and thus the estimate by Tjaden and Thoennes seems to be low.
According to Tjaden and Thoennes as well as to most other reports, police were also more likely to act if the report was filed by a woman. Similarly men were more likely to be prosecuted: 31.1 percent of men who had been accused of intimate rape were prosecuted, 24.7 percent of allegations about intimate violence and 25.4 percent of alleged intimate stalking incidents by men resulted in prosecutions. On the other hand, only 4.1 percent of accused women were prosecuted. Women also obtained restraining orders at greater frequency than did men (17.1% and 3.5%, respectively). About two-thirds of the restraining orders against men were violated or reported to have been violated. (As a side note: case law documents that men are frequently set up in these situations, as I know from a personal family experience.) On the other hand, according to Tjaden and Thoennes, about nine tenths of the restraining orders against women are violated, again done in the same experience of my family member where he was set up by a woman who broke the mutual restraining order and then claimed that her husband had broken it. Once that fact was established in the criminal court the case was adjourned, indefinitely. In other words, when the woman is found to be guilty the case is dropped so that she cannot be found to be guilty. How simple.
A Nov. 25, 2002 Contra Costa Times newspaper article by John Simerman, called Men, too, fall victim to abuse in big numbers, succinctly describes police and court response when a man reports that he has been assaulted by his wife. In short, his wife was told: "So, you hit your husband. Ha, ha, ha!" (told by the wife who did the hitting.)
In spite of the lack of any evidence the feminist battle cry is
National statistics show more than 90 percent of all domestic violence victims are females battered by males.
That in itself is not surprising. In order to succeed, a political movement that is based on radical ideology, bent on establishing a new world order, has no choice but to resort to half truths and outright lies.
What is surprising is that these movements are able to penetrate the legislative bodies and the judiciary of otherwise democratic nations by stacking them with their members.
The above "national statistic" is now the mantra in police manuals, physicians' handbooks, judicial training materials, etc. No one has the interest, or maybe the courage, to question its authenticity.
Jennifer Brayton, University of New Brunswick asks: What makes Feminist Research Feminist? The Structure of Feminist Research within the Social Sciences, and then answers:
Feminist research is, thus, not research about women but research for women to be used in transforming their sexist society (Cook and Fonow, 1986, p. 13). ... Feminist research is research that uses feminist principles throughout all stages of research, from choice of topic to presentation of data. These feminist principles also inform and act as the framework guiding the decisions being made by the researcher.
In an instruction package developed by NationalResourceCenter on Domestic Violence (U.S.), called General Domestic Violence Statistics Packet Using Statistics And Evaluating Research, researchers are told that methodology is the key in achieving desired results:
Quantitative methods simply try to quantify information numerically, e.g., number of items, events, times of day, etc. This type of data often comes from police or hospital reports, surveys, etc. It can then be further refined through rating, averaging, or other numerical manipulations to provide additional information, trends, etc. to the researcher. Qualitative research is typically more open-ended, such as in-person interviews with study participants that allow them to report freely on an event or idea. Answers to qualitative questions can be coded or analyzed for trends, unique situations or commonalties and generally result in an interpretation of the information.
Researchers are told that they need to ask:
Do the results corroborate the study methodology and participant responses?
The package is an excellent example of how selective use of estimated, but not validated, statistics are used to give misleading information without actually telling a lie. Only by looking deeper into the complete reports and comparing the various research methodologies against each other can one get some glimpse of reality. However, considering the calculated oversupply of "research" reports, which often merely duplicate each other, no one individual has the time to go through them all and thus we are inclined to accept the abstracts which are presented to us from an advocacy perspective. Yet, often the most telling details are buried somewhere in the middle, in one paragraph or a few sentences scattered here and there.
Thanks to the affirmative action and gender equity legislation, the offices of legislators and judges are staffed with social scientists whose degrees include the mandatory credits in women's studies. They are well equipped to fulfill the mandate of politically correct selective analysis of any given report.
While the law makers and enforcers blithely follow the clarion call of their feminist leaders, the nations are crumbling under the sheer weight of the rubble left behind as the very foundations of our civilization, namely the families of the nation, are crumbling, bit by bit.
The ultimate irony is that soon even those who now use the
sledgehammers will find themselves buried under the dust. Some of
them have already become the victims of their policies.
Source: www.nojustice.info/Statistics/ManufactureOfDVStatisticsPartI.htm
Note: The information in this report was copied from a publication from the AZCADV entitled, The Gender of DV It is representative of the kind of statistics, and the way they are used in most websites and published material in this field. The universal theme of all is:
Intimate partner violence is primarily a crime against women. An epidemic of domestic violence?
In 2002, women experienced an estimated 494,570 rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault victimizations at the hands of an intimate, down from 1.1 million in 1993. In 1993, men were victims of about 160,000 violent crimes by an intimate partner, and in 2002 men were victims of about 72,520 violent crimes by an intimate partner.
On average, from 1976-1998, the number of murders by intimates
decreased by 4 percent per year for male victims and 1 percent per
year for female victims.
Source:
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_c.htm
An estimated 4.5 million physical assaults were committed against U.S. women by intimate partners in the year preceding the National Violence Against Women Survey.
Approximately 2.9 million intimate partner physical assaults were
perpetrated against men in the year preceding the National Violence
Against Women Survey.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, “Extent,
Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from
the National Violence Against Women Survey,” July
2000
The best that can be concluded from this information is that nobody knows the actual extent of the problem.
95% of victims are women
If you refer to the above DOJ numbers, you can see this statement doesn’t hold water. You don’t need to be a math whiz to see that 494,570 versus 160,000 does not represent 95% and 5%. Neither does 4.5 million and 2.9 million.
Shelter officials will often confuse their client base with the population in general. They see that 95% of their clientele is female, thus they come to the conclusion that this value must apply to the community as a whole. What they fail to recognize is that men tend not to ask for help in any situation. (Everyone is likely aware of the traditional joke about men not asking for directions.) To compound the problem, DV victims of either gender have trouble asking for outside help, this is a well-known victim behavior. So male victims have their trouble seeking help magnified.
There is one more element to add to this situation. Many shelters have the words, “women”, or “women and children” in their names. Even in the cases where shelters are called something else, such as “Family Service,” their outreach programs, PSAs and other materials for public consumption emphasize the female victim in a single-instance occurrence almost to the exclusion of any other category of person affected by DV.
How can a male victim be expected to approach agencies that are so public and visible in their intentions to serve women only? How can a female abuser that wants to change seek help when these “experts” are telling her what she is doing is acceptable? And what of the serial victims who are told they do not exist? Is this not further abuse by agencies that purport to aid the abused?
Here is one more statement, this time actually made by the venerable Department of Justice. It is indicative of the kind of logic and mindset used to interpret their own data:
“Women are nearly three times more likely to report being
victimized by a male partner than by a female partner and men are
nearly twice as likely to report being victimized by a male partner
than by a female partner. These findings suggest that men primarily
perpetrate violence, whether against male or female
partners.”
Source: US Department of Justice, Extent, Nature, and
Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National
Violence Against Women Survey, July 2000
(The emphasis in the above statement is mine). Just because both women and men are more likely to report being victimized by men does not necessarily prove that men are the primary perpetrators of all partner violence. The findings are only about reporting, and you can’t draw a conclusion based on information you do not have.
Now I’m going to list a group of other statistics.
Source: Chalk and Kings, eds., Violence in Families:
Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs, National Resource
Council and Institute of Medicine, p 42. 1998
Much of female violence is committed in self-defense, and inflicts less injury than male violence.
Does this address the issue at hand? Not really, since we don’t know how this agency came to that conclusion, whether it is the result of advocacy research, or simply someone’s opinion. Those with experience in counseling male victims would differ on this point, and say that women tend to use weapons more quickly and often than men do, making their level of danger equal to or exceeding that of men in DV cases. It is certainly a matter of opinion, and one must draw one’s own conclusion in the matter.
(US Department of Justice: Findings for the National Violence Against Women Survey, July 2000)
Women are severely injured or killed as a result of intimate partner violence significantly more often than men.
Again there is a problem with ambiguity. What is “severe”? What is “significant”? Why is this terminology used when it would appear those interpreting this survey would have a set of hard data at hand to quote?
Women are seven to fourteen times more likely to report suffering severe physical assaults from an intimate partner.
Once again, this is about reporting only, and the sex of the offender is not known.
41.5 percent of the women who were physically assaulted by an intimate partner were injured during their most recent assault. Whereas, 19.9 percent of the men who were physically assaulted by an intimate partner were injured during their most recent assault.
It would appear that women are more likely to be injured from this set of numbers. It could also be seen in this way: 58.4% of women are not injured during an assault, 80.1% of men are not injured during an assault. The implication is not really clear. Is the reader intended to infer that women’s injuries are somehow more important, since the recorded percentage is higher?
(United Nations Children’s Fund, “Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls,” Innocenti Digest, No. 6, May 2000)
Thirty-seven percent of all women who sought medical care in hospital emergency rooms for violence-related injuries were injured by a current or former spouse or partner.
This is easy to understand. Women who get hurt seek treatment. Just over a third of those were hurt by a spouse or partner. (Gender of that person unknown.) Logically, just under two-thirds were injured by strangers. This would seem to apply more to a general crime issue than one of domestic violence.
(Family Violence Prevention Fund, “Speaking up”, Vol. 9, Issue 3, February 25, 2003 p. 3) Women are more likely than men to be victims of intimate partner homicide. In 2000, intimate partners killed approximately 33 percent of female murder victims; intimates killed four percent of male murder victims.
Also fairly clear. Yet 67 percent of women and 96 percent of men were killed by strangers, if their figures are accurate. Note the sex of the perpetrators is not mentioned. This also would appear to apply more to a general crime issue than one of domestic violence.
(Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Intimate Partner Violence and Age of the Victim, 1993-1999, October 2001) On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day. In 1999, 1,642 murders were attributed to intimates; 74 percent of murder victims (1,218 total) were women.
If you check the math, you find that someone is presuming all the perpetrators of women’s murders are husbands or boyfriends. Yet the term, “intimates” carries no gender.
I have omitted several factoids related to gun violence from an org called the Violence Policy Center. It is likely their assertions are a result of advocacy research, of doubtful value. In any case, they further confuse the issue, since gun control is not within the scope of this project. There were also figures on elder abuse which do not apply.
That does bring up an interesting question. When the above figures are considered outside the context of the “only women are victims, only men are abusers” mentality, they draw a different picture than I believe was intended. Marketing experts know that if you throw a lot of statistics and figures at people, they are far more likely to respond in the way anticipated, even if the stats and facts have little or no bearing on the issue at hand. Even contradictory information such as that found here is better than no numbers at all. The domestic violence information here is often used in this manner to both garner sympathy for female victims, and place blame squarely on men in general.
Shelters and services have been using these tactics for thirty years. It is as if they feel they still need to convince an uncaring public that domestic violence is a new problem that continually goes unaddressed. Anyone reading this will recognize that in fact, domestic violence is a high-profile issue, and nearly any female victim who makes an attempt to access help can do so.
In these days of transparency and accountability, these tactics will be of less and less value as time progresses. The public no longer will accept being misled and manipulated, and eventually the donations and grants to agencies that have been less than forthcoming with their stakeholders will come to an end. Other agencies that were established in the same era have clearly defined their client base, serve those who they can and feel no need to resort to any kind of artifice to gain financial and other support.
Of course there are those within these agencies who firmly believe
outrageous claims such as the well-worn 95%. My personal experience
with domestic violence services has been that there are few among
them who have ever made any attempt to address the issue without the
filter of gender bias, and will grasp at any straw to try and
“prove” their claims. However, gender bias has no place in
the 21st Century, especially when there is so much to lose by
refusing to face reality, and so much to gain by full awareness of
the problem in all its incarnations.
The results:
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, February 8, 2008 Issue
The cost of domestic violence to the US economy is more than $8.3
billion. This cost includes medical care, mental health services, and
lost productivity (e.g., time away from work).
Source: Max W, Rice DP, Finkelstein E, Bardwell RA,
Leadbetter S. The economic toll of intimate partner violence against
women in the United States. Violence and Victims
2004;19(3):259-72.
Workplace homicides dropped to a new low of 517 in 2008, while workplace suicides increased to their highest recorded level of 251 cases.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) reports that there were 5,071 fatal work injuries in the United States in 2008, down from 5,657 in 2007. Based on these preliminary counts, the rate of fatal injury for U.S. workers in 2008 was 3.6 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from 4.0 in 2007.
Key findings from BLS are:
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2008
The most comprehensive study of its kind, released in 2007, found that violence costs the United States $70 billion annually.
Sixty-eight percent of the costs from assaults and 63 percent of the costs from self-inflicted injuries were in males aged 15 to 44. Other findings from the study include:
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Characteristics 2005, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_c.htm#violent, page last updated December 19, 2007
In a report released in July, 2000, the Justice Department and Centers for Disease Control found that nearly 25 percent of women, and about seven percent of men say they have been raped or assaulted by a current or former partner.
The survey of a nationally representative sample of 8,000 men and 8,000 women found that 1.5 percent of women and 0.9 percent of men were raped or physically assaulted by their partner in the last twelve months. According to the estimates, approximately 1.5 million American women and over 800,000 men are raped or assaulted by an intimate partner annually.
The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking, and
homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year. Of this
total, nearly $4.1 billion are for direct medical and mental health
care services and productivity losses account for nearly $1.8
billion, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Source: Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against
Women in the United States, US Centers for Disease Control. Report
released April 28, 2003
The rates of intimate partner violence "differ greatly" depending on the age of the victim, according to a November 2001 report issued by the US Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics. Women between the ages of 16 and 24 are nearly three times more vulnerable to intimate partner violence (excluding intimate partner homicide) than women in other age groups. In 1999, the overall rate of intimate partner violence against women was 5.8 victimizations per 1,000 women, but the rate was 15.6 per 1,000 women for those aged 16 to 24.
In a statewide survey of Texans released in February 2003, 74
percent say they, a relative, a friend or a co-worker have
experienced some form of physical, sexual or verbal domestic
violence. 31% of Texans surveyed reported they had been severely
abused at some point. The survey also indicated 26 percent of Texans
have been physically abused — hit, slapped, pushed or choked
— by a spouse or partner.
Source: Saurage Research Inc. of Houston randomly
surveyed 1,200 Texans in August of 2002. The survey has a margin of
error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points
A total of 1,687 women and men were killed by an intimate partner
in 2000. 1,247 of those were women, and 440 were men.
Source: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993 - 2001.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, February 2003, NCJ
197838
Intimate partner violence made up 20% of violent crime against
women in 2001. Intimate partners committed 3% of the non-fatal
violence against men.
Source: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993 - 2001.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, February 2003, NCJ
197838
A UCLA School of Public Health survey released in February 2003 estimates that nearly 11 million adult Californians - 45.5 percent of the state's adult population - personally know a victim of domestic violence. Of that total, 86.5 percent reported knowing a victim who incurred physical harm, and only 18.3 percent of the injured victims sought medical care.
A total of 3,713 California adults (including similar numbers of whites, blacks, Hispanics, Korean Americans, Vietnamese Americans and other Asian Americans) completed the random telephone survey between April 2000 and March 2001, a response rate of 50.5 percent. Respondents were asked whether a friend, relative or co-workers had been threatened or harmed by an intimate partner.
Among other survey findings:
40.5 percent of respondents know a woman victim of domestic violence and 5 percent know a man.
Source: UCLA News, February 19,2003
Over one-third (35.6 percent) of all intimate partner violence
occurred in the presence of a third party.
Source: Planty, M. 2002. Third-Party Involvement in
Violent Crime, 1993-99. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics,
U.S. Department of Justice
Three in 10 college women who have been stalked believe that they
are psychologically and emotionally injured by the victimization.
Source: National Institute of Justice. 2000. The
Sexual Victimization of College Women. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice
According to estimates from the National Crime Victimization
Survey (NCVS), there were 691,710 nonfatal violent victimizations
committed by current or former spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends of
the victims during 2001. Such crimes -- intimate partner violence --
primarily involve female victims. About 588,490, or 85% of
victimizations by intimate partners in 2001 were against women.
Source: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993 - 2001.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, February 2003, NCJ
197838
One in three people treated in emergency departments in Wales for
assault injuries is the victim of domestic violence, new research has
revealed. The research, carried out by the University of Glamorgan
also found that 75% of the victims of domestic violence treated at
the emergency room were female, and 25% were male. The research also
discovered that in a fifth of all domestic violence attacks seen at
Prince Charles Hospital, children were present. The main perpetrators
of domestic violence in cases involving women were partners or
ex-partners; in attacks on men, other family members were found to be
largely responsible.
Source: Western Mail, Wales UK, 11-5-04
A study in the August 1, 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (Volume 286, No. 5, pages 572-579) entitled Dating Violence Against Adolescent Girls and Associated Substance Use, Unhealthy Weight Control, Sexual Risk Behavior, Pregnancy, and Suicidality found that approximately 1 in 5 female students (9th through 12th grade) reported being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner.
The study also found that dating violence against adolescent girls is associated with increased risk of substance abuse, unhealthy weight control behavior, sexual risk behaviors, pregnancy, and attempted suicide. The study concluded that not only is dating violence extremely prevalent among teens, but that girls who experience dating violence are more likely to exhibit other serious health risk behaviors.
l out of every 5 couples experienced domestic violence in the past
year.
Source: American Journal of Public Health 1998;88:
1702–1704
More than half (56%) of Americans say they have at least one
friend, relative, or co-worker whom they know has been involved in
domestic violence—either a woman who has been a victim or a man
whom they feel is guilty of it.
Source: Liz Claiborne, Inc., “Attitudes and
Beliefs About Domestic Violence Against Women,” A Women's Work
Survey, 1997
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' 1996 Women's Safety Survey
had found that nearly one quarter of Australian women who have been
married or in a de facto relationship have experienced domestic
violence. Only 19 per cent of these incidents were reported to
police.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1996.
Women's Safety Survey. Canberra. Catalogue No. 4128.0
www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=1
A study released by the US Centers for Disease Control in October 2005 found that health care costs associated with each incident of domestic violence were $948 in cases where women were the victims and $387 in cases where men were the victims. The study also found that domestic violence against women results in more emergency room visits and inpatient hospitalizations, including greater use of physician services than domestic violence where men are the victims.
CDC researchers determined healthcare costs by looking at mental health services; the use of medical services such as emergency departments, inpatient hospitals, and physician services; and losses in productivity such as time off from work, childcare or household duties because of injuries. The average medical cost for women victimized by physical domestic violence was $483 compared to $83 for men; mental health services costs for women was $207 compared to $80 for men; while productivity losses were similar at $257 for women and $224 for men.
The annual cost of lost productivity due to domestic violence is
estimated as $727.8 million with over 7.9 million paid workdays lost
per year.
Source: Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against
Women in the United States, 2003. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and
Control
A study that examined 1997 - 2002 medical records of several
groups of adult female patients of an HMO in Seattle found that women
who are victims of physical or sexual domestic violence visit their
doctors more often than other women. Annual health-care costs were
significantly higher for the women who were victims of domestic
violence. Their health-care costs averaged more than $5,000 per year,
compared to about $3,400 for those in the second group and $2,400 for
those in the third group.
Source: Ulrich YC, Cain KC, Sugg NK, Rivara FP,
Rubanowice DM, Thompson RS. Medical care utilization patterns in
women with diagnosed domestic violence. American Journal of
Preventive Medicine. 2003; 24(1): 9-15.
The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking, and
homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year. Of this
total, nearly $4.1 billion are for direct medical and mental health
care services and productivity losses account for nearly $1.8
billion, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Source: Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against
Women in the United States, US Centers for Disease Control. Report
released April 28, 2003
The NACVCB reports that 28 percent of adults receiving crime
victim compensation benefits in 2001 were domestic violence
victims.
Source: National Association of Crime Victim
Compensation Boards [NACVCB].2002. "Compensation at Record
Highs." Victim Compensation Quarterly. (3)
In 2000, 36 percent of rape and sexual assault victims lost more
than 10 days of work after their victimization.
Source:
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics [BJS].
August 2002. National Crime Victimization Survey: Personal and
Property Crimes, 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Justice.
The direct cost of medical treatment for battered women annually
is estimated at $1.8 billion.
Source: Wisner, C., Gilmer, T., Saltman, L., Zink, T.
"Intimate partner violence against women: do victims cost health
plans more?" Journal of Family Practice, 1999:
48[6].
A study conducted at a large health plan in Minneapolis and St.
Paul, Minnesota, in 1994, found that an annual difference of $1,775
more was spent on abused women who utilized hospital services than on
a random sample of general enrollees. The study concluded that early
identification and treatment of victims and potential victims are
most likely to benefit health care systems in the long run.
Source: Wisner, C., Gilmer, T., Saltzman, L. &
Zink, T. 1999. The Journal of Family Practice
The National Institute of Justice found that the aggregate annual
cost to victims of domestic violence is about $8.8 billion, or $67
billion when pain,suffering, and lost quality of life is
included.
Source: Lawrence A. Greenfield et al., US Department
of Justice, Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by
Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends, March
1998
A study conducted at Rush Medical Center in Chicago found that the
average charge for medical services provided to abused women,
children and older people was $1,633 per person per year. This would
amount to a national annual cost of $857.3 million.
Source: Meyer, H. The Billion Dollar Epidemic.
American Medical News, January 6, 1992
Experts indicate that intimate partner violence costs US
businesses an estimated $3 to $5 billion annually in lost time and
productivity.
Source: Violence and Stress: The Work/Family
Connection. Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs; August 1990.
Special Report Number 23
Source: www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=2
On September 25, 2007, CAEPV, Liz Claiborne and Safe Horizon released a groundbreaking survey on corporate executives and employee awareness of the impact of domestic violence in the workplace.
Surprisingly, the survey shows that a significant majority of corporate executives and their employees from the nation's largest companies recognize the harmful and extensive impact of domestic violence in the workplace, yet only 13% of corporate executives think their companies should address the problem.
The attitudes of executives differ dramatically from an overwhelming majority of employees (84%) who believe that corporations should be a part of the solution to addressing domestic violence.
Although nearly 2 in 3 corporate executives (63%) say that
domestic violence is a major problem in our society and 55% cite its
harmful impact on productivity in their companies, a majority of top
executives have blinders on when it comes to seeing the reality of
domestic violence victims working in their own companies.
Source: Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence,
September 2007
The number of homicides dipped from 567 in 2005 to 516 in 2006, a
9 percent decrease, according to a report by the Department of
Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workplace homicides have dropped
by more than 50 percent since a high of 1,080 in 1994. In 2001, there
were 643 workplace homicides, a total that excludes fatalities from
the attacks of September 11, 2001. The 516 workplace homicides in
2006 was the lowest annual total ever reported in the bureau's Census
of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Of the 516 workplace homicides last
year, 417 were from a shooting and 38 were from a stabbing, according
to the report. Overall, there were 5,703 fatal work injuries in the
United States in 2006, down slightly from the revised total of 5,734
fatalities in 2005. The rate of fatal work injuries in 2006 was 3.9
per 100,000 workers, down from a rate of 4.0 per 100,000 in 2005.
Source: US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor
Statistics
On June 7, 2007 Verizon Wireless released the results of the first-ever “Father’s Day” poll of 1,020 American men, and found broad support for employer-based efforts to address domestic violence.
The poll also found that 61% of those surveyed thought
employers should be doing more to address domestic violence.
Source for full results of the poll, visit
aboutus.vzw.com/communityservice/pollresults.html
Researchers from the University of Arkansas found that women who
were victims of recent domestic violence had 26 percent more time
lost to tardiness and absenteeism than non-victims.
Source: Anne O’Leary Kelly and Carol Reeves, The
Effects and Costs of Intimate Partner Violence for Work
Organizations, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 22, No. 3,
327-344, 2007
Half of employers with 1,000 or more employees in the United States had an incident of workplace violence within the 12 months prior to completing a new survey on workplace violence prevention, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in The Survey of Workplace Violence Prevention, released October 27, 2006.
While 5 percent of all establishments, including state and local governments, had a violent incident, half of the largest establishments (employing 1,000 or more workers) reported an incident. In these largest establishments, the most prevalent type of incident was co-worker (34.1 percent), followed by a customer or client (28.3 percent), domestic violence (24.1 percent), and criminal (17.2 percent).
More than 28 percent of respondents with 250 to 999 employees said they had an incident of workplace violence in the last year.
Of all establishments reporting an incident of workplace violence in the previous 12 months, 21 percent reported that the incident affected the fear level of their employees and twenty-one percent indicated that the incident affected their employees' morale.
Over 70 percent of United States workplaces have no formal program
or policy that addresses workplace violence.
Source: The Survey of Workplace Violence Prevention,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2006
Of the 30% of workplaces in the US that have some sort of formal workplace violence policy, only 44% have have a policy to address domestic violence in the workplace.
Only 4 percent of all establishments train employees on domestic
violence and its impact on the workplace.
Source: The Survey of Workplace Violence Prevention,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2006
Between July and September 2005, CAEPV polled 1,200 full-time employed adults across the US in the first-ever national benchmarking telephone survey regarding domestic violence and its impact on the workplace. Among the major findings were that 66% of those surveyed indicated they were not aware of their employer having a workplace domestic violence policy, 44% of full-time employed adults surveyed personally experienced domestic violence's effect in their workplaces, and most remarkably, 21% of full-time employed adult respondents (men and women) identified themselves as victims of intimate partner violence.
Sixty-four percent (64%) of victims of domestic violence indicated that their ability to work was affected by the violence. Among key causes for their decline in productivity, victims noted "distraction" (57%); "fear of discovery" (45%); "harassment by intimate partner at work (either by phone or in person)" (40%); fear of intimate partner's unexpected visits" (34%); "inability to complete assignments on time" (24%); and "job loss" (21%).
Regarding co-workers as victims, 31% of respondents felt "strongly" to "somewhat obliged" to cover for a victim of domestic violence by performing his or her work or offering excuses for his or her absence, 27% reported "extremely frequently" to "somewhat frequently" having to do the victim's work, and 25% resented the victim because of the effect of their situation on the workplace. Finally, 38% of respondents were "extremely" to "somewhat concerned" for their own safety when they found out a co-worker was a victim of domestic violence.
For an in-depth analysis of this survey, request a copy of CAEPV's
Special Edition Newsletter on the survey by e-mailing caepv@caepv.org
Source: Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence,
October 2005
According to the CDC, intimate partner violence victims lose a
total of nearly 8.0 million days of paid work—the equivalent of
more than 32,000 full-time jobs—and nearly 5.6 million days of
household productivity as a result of the violence.
Source: Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against
Women in the United States, US Centers for Disease Control. Report
released April 28, 2003
Homicide was the second leading cause of death on the job for
women in 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS)
Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) system data. Fifteen
percent (15%) of the 119 workplace homicides of women in that year
were attributed to a current or former husband or boyfriend.
Source: There were a total of 444 workplace deaths of
women in 2003 -- 31% were the result of highway incidents, 27% were
homicides, and 9% were falls.
On February 17, 2004 the Maine Department of Labor and Family Crisis Services released a study that found that employed partner violence offenders have a significant impact on their workplaces.
Among the findings were that:
Source: Maine Department of Labor and Family Crisis Services study released February 17, 2004
The annual cost of lost productivity due to domestic violence is
estimated as $727.8 million with over 7.9 million paid workdays lost
per year.
Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in
the United States, 2003. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
In the fall of 2002, Liz Claiborne Inc. released their 2nd Corporate Leader Survey regarding domestic violence, benchmarking the results of their 1994 survey.
The 2002 survey found that 66% of corporate leaders say domestic violence is a major problem in today's society. This compares to 57% who thought so in 1994. Significantly more corporate leaders in 2002 than in 1994 said they were aware of employees within their organization affected by domestic violence -- 56% in 2002 versus 40% in 1994. Significantly more also indicated someone close to them has been involved in domestic violence -- 45% in 2002 versus 24% in 1994.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) said a company's financial performance would benefit if domestic violence were addressed among its employees. Fifty percent (50%) reported that domestic violence has had a harmful effect on their own organization's insurance and medical costs and one-third (32%) said their company's bottom line performance has been damaged. A full 91% believe that domestic violence affects both the private lives AND the working lives of their employees. Many report that domestic violence has had a harmful effect on their own organization's staff, specifically on their psychological well-being (60%), their physical safety (52%), their productivity (48%) and their attendance (42%). Eighty-five percent (85%)think corporations are responsible for the general well-being of their employees and two-thirds (67%) believe domestic violence is serious enough to warrant their attention.
However, just 12% think that corporations should play a major role in addressing the issue. Most think that is the responsibility of the family, social service organizations, and the police. Along these lines, 78% said they offer domestic violence counseling or assistance to their employees. Emergency counseling services, referrals to other organizations that deal specifically with domestic violence, and employee benefits that cover the costs of help were the most common forms of assistance being offered.
In 2001, Employers Against Domestic Violence (Boston, MA) conducted focus groups with convicted male domestic violence offenders, and asked them about the impact their behavior had on their workplaces.
They found that abusers made costly and dangerous mistakes on the job as a result of perpetrating domestic violence, most abusers used company phones, e-mail, and vehicles in order to perpetrate domestic abuse, most abusers used paid work time in order to attend court for matters relating to their perpetration of domestic violence, most employers expressed support for the abuser (but few expressed concern for the victim), and 10% of employers posted bail for abusers or granted them paid leaves of absence for court dates related to domestic violence.
United Kingdom -- Time off work due to injuries caused by domestic
violence costs employers and workers nearly £3 billion a year
(5.4 billion US dollars*). Approximately half the costs of such
absence is borne by the employer, and half by the individual in lost
wages.
Source: Walby, S. "The Cost of Domestic Violence"
released September 1, 2004. Research funded by the DTI Women and
Equality Unit. University of Leeds, United Kingdom
*Conversion done at CAEPV based on 9/1/04 exchange
rates
The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking, and
homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year. Of this
total, nearly $4.1 billion are for direct medical and mental health
care services and productivity losses account for nearly $1.8
billion, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Source: Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against
Women in the United States, US Centers for Disease Control. Report
released April 28, 2003
More than 5,000 cases of workplace violence are reported every day
in the United States.
Source: "Top Security Threats and Management Issues
Facing Corporate America." Report by Pinkerton Security, February
2003
In their report entitled "Terror Nine to Five: Guns in the
American Workplace 1994 - 2003," the organization Handgun Free
America found that in the past decade (1994 - 2003) there were 164
workplace shootings in America with a total of 290 people killed and
an additional 161 people injured. The group also found that at least
13.4 % of the incidents reviewed involved the shooting of a current
or former intimate partner.
Source: "Terror Nine to Five: Guns in the American
Workplace 1994 - 2003," frpm Handgun Free America Website, accessed
5-18-04
The total costs associated with workplace violence are estimated
at $36 billion annually and affects over two million Americans every
year, according to the study called "Top Security Threats and
Management Issues Facing Corporate America."
Source: Pinkerton Security, February 2003
In 2002, workplace fatalities fell by 6.6 percent in 2002 to the
lowest level ever recorded since the survey was first completed in
1992. There were 5,524 fatal work injuries recorded in 2002 (the 2001
national numbers showed 5,915 fatal work injuries, excluding the
tragic toll of the 2,885 work-related fatalities from the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks). Homicides were the third leading cause of death
at the workplace with 609 workplace homicides. For more information
by industry, occupation, exposure and other measures, visit
http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm#2002.
Source: US Department of Labor, report released
9/17/2003
A small study released in 2002 found that 18 of 21 domestic abuse
victims who work for Partners HealthCare (Massachusetts) said that
the abuse they suffered affected their work performance. Nineteen of
the 21 women surveyed in the study said services through the EAP
program made them feel safer. Eighteen said getting help at work
improved their functioning ability. Thirteen said it improved their
relationship with their supervisor.
Source: Study conducted at Newton-Wellesley by the
Partners Employee Assistance Program with help from Mass General
Hospital in Boston and the Harvard School of Public Health
In 2001, a total of 8,786 people died at work -- of those, 2,886
were related to the attacks of 9/11/02. Excluding the victims of
attacks, the overall workplace death count was 5,900, which would
have been the third-straight annual drop. In 2000, there were 5,920
people killed on the job. Work-related homicides fell to the lowest
level since 1992, to 639. Homicides among technical, sales, and
administrative support workers decreased, though homicides increased
sharply among workers in service occupations, which include police
and detectives, food preparation workers, barbers, and
hairdressers.
Source: US Department of Labor
Males victimized at work report the crime to the police about 50
percent of the time, whereas females victimized at work report about
40 percent of the time. Rape and sexual assault were reported about
24 percent of the time to the police.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) December
2001. Violence in the Workplace, 1993-99. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice
Of the approximately 1.7 million incidents of workplace violence
that occur in the US every year, approximately 18,700 (1.1 percent)
are committed by an intimate: current or former spouse, lover,
partner, or boyfriend/girlfriend.
Source: Detis T. Duhart, Ph.D. BJS Statistician. U.S.
Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice
Statistics Special Report, Violence in the Workplace, 1993-99.
December 2001, NCJ-190076
37% of women involved in partner violence have felt its effects on
the workplace—reflected in lateness, missed work, difficulty
keeping a job, and difficulty advancing in their careers.
Source: Results of EDK National Telephone Poll,
September 1997
A survey of EAP providers found that a large majority of them
dealt with specific partner abuse situations in the past year,
including an employee with a restraining order (83%) or an employee
being stalked at work by a current or former partner (71%).
Source: Harvard University School of Public
Health, 1997:30
94% of corporate security directors rank partner violence as a
high security problem.
Source: National Safe Workplace Institute survey, as
cited in "Talking Frankly About Domestic Violence," Personnel
Journal, April, 1995, page 64. NOTE: The National Safe Workplace
Institute is now called the National Institute for School and
Workplace Safety
78% of human resources professionals consider partner violence a
workplace issue.
Source: National Safe Workplace Institute survey, as
cited in "Talking Frankly About Domestic Violence," Personnel
Journal, April, 1995, page 64. NOTE: The National Safe Workplace
Institute is now called the National Institute for School and
Workplace Safety
56% of battered women arrive an hour late for work 5 times a
month.
Source: Report on Costs of Domestic Violence, Victim
Services of New York, 1987
74% of victims are harassed at work by their abuser.
Source: Report on Costs of Domestic Violence, Victim
Services of New York, 1987
It is estimated that 25% of workplace problems such as
absenteeism, lower productivity, turnover and excessive use of
medical benefits are due to family violence.
Source: Employee Assistance Providers/MN
An estimated 24–30% of abused working women lose their jobs
due to their domestic violence situation.
Source: “Prisoners of Abuse,” The Taylor
Institute
Source: www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=3
The results:
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, February 8, 2008 Issue
A US study published in April 2004 found that women in their 50s and beyond report suffering physical and verbal abuse at a rate similar to that of younger women. The study of nearly 92,000 women ages 50 to 79 found that at the outset 10,200 said they had been abused sometime in the past year. Three years later, over 2,400 more women reported newly suffering abuse, according to findings published in the April 2004 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Dr. Charles Mouton and his colleagues gathered their figures using data from the Women's Health Initiative, a national medical study of postmenopausal women. At the start of the study and again three years later, participants were asked whether a family member or friend had physically abused them in the past year. They were also asked about verbal abuse such as put-downs, severe criticism and threats. Overall, 11 percent of women reported some form of abuse at the study's start, with 89 percent of them saying they'd been subjected to verbal abuse alone.
Verbal abuse, Mouton said, can cause both physical and mental harm. Research has linked it to stress and depression, and people who suffer verbal abuse tend to report poorer physical and psychological health. Among women in the study, those in their 50s were more likely to report abuse than older women were, and low income was associated with a higher risk of any type of abuse. Black women were nearly three times more likely than white women to say they'd been physically abused, but white women reported more verbal abuse.
According to the researchers, most studies on abuse have focused
on younger women or on frail elderly adults, who are at risk of abuse
by caregivers. The new findings, they say, show that healthy older
women may suffer rates of abuse comparable to, or even higher, than
those of younger women. Mouton said he thinks doctors need to be more
aware of the potential for abuse among their older female patients.
He noted that he routinely screens such patients for abuse, although
studies have not yet shown whether routine screening is effective in
spotting and stopping abuse.
Source: American Journal of Public Health, April
2004
On February 17, 2004 a study of partner violence perpetrators and the workplace was released by the Maine Department of Labor and Family Crisis Services, a nonprofit organization. The study found that employed partner violence offenders have a significant impact on their workplaces. Among the significant impacts reported by offenders:
Source: Maine Department of Labor and Family Crisis Services study released February 17, 2004
Men who drink alcohol and have a predisposition for physical
violence toward their female partners are more likely to be violent
on the days they drink alcohol, according to a study conducted at the
University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) and
reported in the February 2003 issue of the American Psychological
Association's Journal.
Source: Fals-Stewart, W. (2003) The Occurrence of
Partner Physical Aggression on Days of Alcohol Consumption: A
Longitudinal Diary Study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 71(1), 41-52
In 2001, Employers Against Domestic Violence (Boston, MA) conducted focus groups with convicted male domestic violence offenders, and asked them about the impact their behavior had on their workplaces.
They found that abusers made costly and dangerous mistakes on the job as a result of perpetrating domestic violence, most abusers used company phones, e-mail, and vehicles in order to perpetrate domestic abuse, most abusers used paid work time in order to attend court for matters relating to their perpetration of domestic violence, most employers expressed support for the abuser (but few expressed concern for the victim), and 10% of employers posted bail for abusers or granted them paid leaves of absence for court dates related to domestic violence.
Fifty-two percent of all violent crimes committed by a relative
involve spouses and ex-spouses. One in four spousal attacks involve
persons who are divorced.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal
Victimization in the United States, 1995, May 2000, NCJ
171129
Of all adult domestic violence cases reported to the National
Crime Victimization Survey, in 1998, approximately 85% were
victimizations of women by their current or former partners. Compared
to males, females experienced 5 times as many incidents of violence
by an intimate. Women were the victims in about 876,340 of the
violent crimes committed by an intimate, compared to approximately
157,330 incidents committed against men.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Intimate
Partner Violence, May 2000, NCJ 178247
In 1999, the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services
received 55,558 police reports of family offenses involving adult
intimate partners. An adult female was identified as the victim in
84% of these reported family offenses.
Source: NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services,
1999 Crime & Justice Annual Report
Of women who reported being raped and/or physically assaulted
since the age of 18, three quarters (76%) were victimized by a
current or former husband, cohabitating partner, date or
boyfriend.
Source: Prevalence Incidence, and Consequences of
Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against
Women Survey, U.S. Department of Justice, November, 1998
Boys who have witnessed partner violence are much more likely to
become batterers in their adult relationships than boys who have not
had exposure to partner violence in their families. The data is mixed
for girls.
Source: Hotaling and Sugarman, 1996
In 1995, almost one in five reported violent crimes where the
victim knew the offender, involved the use of a weapon.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal
Victimization in the United States, 1995
Nearly 2 in 3 female victims of violence were related to or knew
their attacker.
Source: Ronet Bachman Ph.D., U.S. Department of
Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Violence Against Women: A
National Crime Victimization Survey Report," January 1994, p.
iii
Almost 6 times as many women victimized by intimates as those
victimized by strangers did not report their violent victimization to
police because they feared reprisal from the offender.
Source: Ronet Bachman Ph.D., U.S. Department of
Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Violence Against Women: A
National Crime Victimization Survey Report," January 1994, p.
1
Annually, compared to males, females experienced over 10 times as
many incidents of violence by an intimate. On average each year,
women experienced 572,032 violent victimizations at the hands of an
intimate, compared to 48,983 incidents committed against men.
Source: Ronet Bachman Ph.D., U.S. Department of
Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Violence Against Women: A
National Crime Victimization Survey Report," January 1994, p.
6
Source: www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=4
The 2002 National Domestic Violence Report released by the
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) recorded more
than 5,000 reported cases of GLBT domestic violence in 2002. The
report contains data from 14 service organizations in 11 regions,
including Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City, and less
populated areas like Tucson, Ariz., Burlington, Vt. and Kansas City,
Mo. The largest number of reported cases came from the coastal
cities. Los Angeles, for example, reported 3,434 cases in 2002, but
it represented a 9 percent decrease from the numbers reported in
2001. San Francisco saw a 25 percent decrease in reports in the same
time period.
Source: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
2002 National Domestic Violence Report, Released July 23,
2003
Violence during pregnancy presents one of the biggest risks to
mothers and their fetuses, and health professionals should screen for
it as they do for high blood pressure and smoking according to
British researchers. Confidential questionnaires answered by 475
pregnant women at an antenatal clinic in the North of England showed
that 17 percent reported being victims of domestic violence,
including 3.4 percent during the current pregnancy. Punching and
slapping were the most common forms of violence, though 11 women
reported that a weapon was used. Six women suffered permanent
injuries and 11 suffered severe burns. Single women were the most
likely victims of violence and their boyfriends were the main
perpetrators, though one woman reported being abused by her mother.
Stephen Lindow and colleagues in the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynaecology at Hull Maternity Hospital, said domestic violence in
pregnant women "is much more common than many other pregnancy
complications.
Source: British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
2003;110:272-275
Each year, over 324,000 pregnant women are victims of intimate
partner violence in the United States.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC. 2002. Safe Motherhood: Promoting Health for Women Before,
During and After Pregnancy, 2002. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
In it's 6th annual report on GLBT domestic violence, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs noted a 25 percent increase to 5,046 cases in 2001, compared to 4,048 cases reported in 2000. The coalition said the increase was mainly due to better reporting and improved outreach from the agencies that provide the data. The numbers were drawn from 12 agencies throughout the country, including the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, Community United Against Violence, Horizons Anti-Violence Program in Chicago, the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, and others in Ohio, Boston, Minnesota and elsewhere.
The victims were split fairly evenly between men (49 percent) and women (43 percent). Four percent identified as transgender, and the missing four percent was not explained. Many of the victims of domestic violence did not specify their race (39 percent), while 26 percent were white, 15 percent Latino/a, and 10 percent African American.
Incidences and types of domestic violence in same-sex
relationships are comparable to that in heterosexual relationships.
Studies indicate that 25-33% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgendered persons are abused by their partners-comparable to the
rate in heterosexual relationships.
Source: Anti-Violence Project/National Coalition of
Anti-Violence Programs, 1998 Report on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual &
Transgender Domestic Violence, 1998, p.26
The majority of welfare recipients have experienced domestic abuse
in their adult lives and a high percentage are currently abused.
Source: Trapped by Poverty, Trapped by Abuse: New
Evidence Documenting the Relationship Between Domestic Violence and
Welfare, The Taylor Institute, April, 1997
Estimates suggest that domestic violence in the military rose from
18.6 per 1000 in 1990 to 25.6 per 1000 in 1996. On average each
fiscal year from 1990 to 1996, 23.2 per 1000 spouses of military
personnel experienced a violent victimization.
Source: FY 1990-1996, Spouse & Child
Maltreatment, Department of Defense
One in six pregnant women reported physical or sexual abuse during
pregnancy. Sixty percent of these women said the abuse was
recurrent.
Source: McFarlane, Parker, Soeken, & Bullock,
Results from a study of 1,204 women in public prenatal clinics in
Houston and Baltimore, 1992
The Colorado Department of Public Health estimates that at least
85% of women with disabilities are victims of domestic violence
compared to 25 to 50% of non-disabled women.
Source: P. Feuerstein, "Domestic Violence and Women
and Children with Disabilities," Unpublished report, Milbank Memorial
Fund; Berkeley Planning Associates, Meeting the Needs of Women with
Disabilities
Source: www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=5
CDC researchers determined healthcare costs by looking at mental health services; the use of medical services such as emergency departments, inpatient hospitals, and physician services; and losses in productivity such as time off from work, childcare or household duties because of injuries. The average medical cost for women victimized by physical domestic violence was $483 compared to $83 for men; mental health services costs for women was $207 compared to $80 for men; while productivity losses were similar at $257 for women and $224 for men.
Many Colorado doctors do not report their patients' domestic violence-related injuries to police officers, as is required by law in that state. In a study released in the January 2003 issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, only four in 10 doctors said they always reported such injuries.
In the study, nearly all (92%) of the 684 doctors surveyed knew that doctors in Colorado are required to immediately notify police if they treat any injuries that resulted from domestic assault or any other crime. But less than half (41%) of the doctors that responded to the question said they always followed that law, study findings indicate. In the same study, 30% of primary care doctors said they always reported domestic violence-related injuries in comparison to 61% of doctors specializing in emergency medicine.
In general, doctors who had received some form of education about
the mandatory reporting law, as many did, were more likely to be
familiar with the law and were more likely to report domestic
violence-related injuries than their less educated peers.
Source: Annals of Emergency Medicine
2003;41:159
Women who are victims of physical or sexual domestic violence visit their doctors more often than other women. Researchers examined medical records from 1997 to 2002 of several groups of adult female patients of Group Health Cooperative (GHC), an HMO in Seattle. The study found the domestic violence victims averaged more than 17 doctor visits a year, compared to an average of 10 visits for one comparison group, and an average of six visits for another.
The study also found that 27 percent of the domestic violence
victims had more than 20 doctor visits a year. Annual health-care
costs were significantly higher for the women who were victims of
domestic violence. Their health-care costs averaged more than $5,000
per year, compared to about $3,400 for those in the second group and
$2,400 for those in the third group.
Source: January 2003 issue of the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine
A study published in 2002 in the Archives of Internal Medicine
found that abused women experience a 50% to 70% increase in
gynecological, neurological and stress-related problems either as
after effects of the abuse or as the result of the high level of
stress that the abuse caused. These problems were long-term,
affecting women even after the relationship was over.
Source: May 27, 2002, vol. 162, issue 10, Archives of
Internal Medicine
Psychological violence coming from an intimate partner can inflict health consequences as serious as physical or sexual violence, according to a study released by the University of Texas at Houston School of Public Health in the November 2002 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Women and men subjected to abuses of power and control, even if not accompanied by physical or sexual abuse, were more likely to develop physical or mental illnesses or engage in substance abuse than people not abused, the study found.
Violence is cited as a pregnancy complication more often than
diabetes, hypertension, or any other serious complication.
Source: "Battering and Pregnancy," Midwifery Today,
19:1998
Females accounted for 39% of the hospital emergency department
visits for violence-related injuries in 1994 but 84% of the persons
treated for injuries inflicted by intimates.
Source: Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on
Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends,
U.S. Department of Justice, March, 1998
Thirty-seven percent of all women who sought care in hospital
emergency rooms for violence-related injuries in 1994 were injured by
a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.
Source: R. Bachman and L.E. Saltzman, Violence
Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey. Washington, DC:
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1995
In a 1992 study of 691 black, Hispanic, and white pregnant women
in public health clinics in Houston, TX, and Baltimore, MD, one in
six women reported physical abuse. Participants were invited into the
study at the first prenatal visit and were followed up until
delivery.
Source: McFarlane, Parker, Soeken, & Bullock,
"Assessing for abuse during pregnancy," Journal of the American
Medical Association 267, no. 23 (1992): 3176-3178
Battered women seek medical attention for injuries sustained as a
consequence of domestic violence significantly more often after
separation than during cohabitation; about 75% of the visits to
emergency rooms by battered women occur after separation.
Source: Stark and Flitcraft, 1988
Female victims of intimate partner violence are more likely than
victims of strangers to experience injuries and to require medical
treatment.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Female Victims
of Violent Crime, NCJ 1626021996
Source: www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=6
An investigation into the suicides of women within one year of
their giving birth found that there was a known or suspected history
of intimate partner violence in two out of the five cases.
Source: Walton-Moss, B. and Campbell, J. January
2002. "Intimate Partner Violence: Implications for Nursing." Issues
in Nursing. Vol.7 [1]
Children who witness domestic violence may suffer acute and
long-term emotional disturbances, including nightmares, depression,
learning difficulties, and aggressive behavior. Children also become
at risk for subsequent use of violence against their dating partners
and wives
Source: el-Bayoumi et al., 1998; NRC, 1998; Sisley et
al., 1999
The mental health consequences of domestic violence include
depression, anxiety disorders (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder),
suicide, eating disorders, and substance abuse
Source: IOM, 1998; Eisenstat & Bancroft,
1999
Women with a history of violence are abuse more often reported
being in fair or poor health, were more likely to report high levels
of depressive symptoms, and were more likely to have been diagnosed
with depression or anxiety.
Source: The Commonwealth Fund 1998 Survey of Women's
Health, 8-9, May 1999
Thirty percent of female stalking victims and 20 percent of male
stalking victims seek psychological counseling as a result of their
victimization. They are significantly more likely to fear for their
personal safety than people who have never been stalked.
Source: National Institute of Justice. 1998. Stalking
in America: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice
Increased risk of depression appears to be a consequence of spouse or partner abuse rather than a character trait of victims. Evidence of that comes from a study of 397 women in Seattle who had reported abuse during a 14-month period from 1997 to 1998. Researchers from the University of Washington monitored the women for symptoms of depression, checking in three months, nine months and two years after the initial report of abuse, and they also surveyed them on subsequent physical, psychological and sexual abuse.
As the violence decreased or stopped, the women's risk of
depression fell as well. It dropped 35 percent when abuse ceased
altogether and 27 percent when physical or sexual abuse stopped but
psychological abuse continued.
Source: Violence and Victims, Volume 18, Issue 3.
June 2003
In a study of one Florida domestic violence agency, 63% of women
in shelters suffered from major depression and 40% from
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while of those who were
receiving services but living in their own homes, 81% suffered from
depression and 31% from PTSD. (Rates of major depression and PTSD in
a large random sample of US women were 7% and 1% respectively.)
Source: Walter J. Gleason, "Mental disorders in
battered women: An empirical study," Violence & Victims 8, no. 1
(1993): 53-68
Thirty-one percent of all rape victims develop Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) during their lifetimes. Rape victims are 6.2
times more likely to develop PTSD than women who have never been
victims of crime.
Source: National Violence Against Women Prevention
Research Center. nd. The Mental Health Impact of Rape. Charleston,
SC: Medical University of South Carolina
Source: www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=7
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) system data for calendar year 2003, homicides were the second leading cause of death of the job for women, and 15% of the 119 workplace homicides of women in that year were attributed to a current or former husband or boyfriend.
There were a total of 444 workplace deaths of women in 2003 -- 31% were the result of highway incidents, 27% were homicides, and 9% were falls.
A total of 1,687 people were killed by intimate partners in 2000.
Of those, 1,247 were women and 440 were men. In recent years an
intimate killed about 33% of female murder victims and about 4% of
male murder victims. Between 1993 and 2000 the proportion of all male
murder victims killed by an intimate was relatively stable while the
proportion of female murder victims killed by an intimate increased
slightly.
Source: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993 - 2001.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, February 2003, NCJ
197838
According to the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports 1976-1999,
59% of the murder victims known to have been killed by an intimate in
1999 were shot to death.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Trends
in the United States, Intimate Homicide, 2001
Between 1993 and 1999, an intimate was responsible for 45% of
homicides of women age 20-24 and almost 40% of homicides of women age
35-49.
Source: Rennison, C.M., PhD., Intimate Partner
Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-99, 2001, NCJ-187635
30% of women murdered in the United States in 1999 were murdered
by a husband, former husband or boyfriend.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Trends
in the United States, Intimate Homicide, 2001
Job-related homicides rose from 651 in 1999 to 677 in 2000, the
first increase in six years, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
Source: This information is a product of the Bureau
of Labor Statistics Safety and Health Statistics Program. Additional
information is available from "National Census of Fatal Occupational
Injuries, 2000," news release USDL 01-261
31,260 women were murdered by an intimate from 1976-1996.
Source: Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on
Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends,
U.S. Department of Justice, March, 1998
In 1996, nearly 75% of those murdered by an intimate partner in
the US were women.
Source: Greenfield, L.A., and others, Violence by
Intimates: Analysis of data on crimes by current or former spouses,
boyfriends, and girlfriends. US Department of Justice, Office of
Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1998.
NCJ-167237
Of 57 domestic homicides occurring in New York State between 1990
and 1997, 75% of the victims had ended the relationship or stated an
intention to end it at the time of their death.
Source: New York State Commission on Domestic
Violence Fatalities, Report to the Governor, (Albany, NY: 1997),
8
In 1996, approximately 1,800 murders were attributed to intimates;
nearly three out of four of these (1,326) had a female victim.
Source: Bureau of justice Statistics
Source:www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=8
The study found that women are nearly three times more likely than men to be stalked, and young people age 18 to 24 experience the highest rates of stalking.
Stalker Characteristics and Behaviors
While women are significantly more likely to be stalked by a male (67 percent) than a female (24 percent), men are just as likely to be stalked by another male (41 percent) than a female (43 percent).
Nearly three in four victims say they know their offender. Stalking victims most often identify the stalker as a former intimate partner (22 percent), or a friend, roommate or neighbor (16 percent). Only about one in ten victims is stalked by a stranger.
Stalking victims are most likely to receive unwanted phone calls (66 percent), be the victim of rumors (36 percent), be followed or spied on (34 percent), receive unwanted letters or email (31 percent) and have their stalkers show up at places with no reason to be there (31 percent). Approximately 60 percent of victims do not report the stalking to police.
The study defines stalking as a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. Individuals are considered to have been stalked if they feared for their safety or that of a family member as a result of the course of conduct, or experienced additional threatening behaviors. Individuals are classified as victims of stalking if they responded that they experienced at least one of seven types of stalking behaviors on two or more separate occasions.
Cyberstalking
Technology has become a quick and easy way for stalkers to monitor and harass their victims. More than one in four stalking victims reports that some form of cyberstalking was used against them, such as email (83 percent of all cyberstalking victims) or instant messaging (35 percent).
Electronic monitoring of some kind is used to stalk one in 13 victims. Video or digital cameras are as likely as listening devices or bugs to be used to track victims.
Workplace Impact
About 130,000 victims reported that they were fired or asked to leave their job because of the stalking.
About one in eight employed stalking victims lost time from work because of fear for their safety or because they needed to get a restraining order or testify in court. More than half these victims lost five days or more from work.
Stalking Victimization in the United States is based on the
largest data collection of stalking behavior to date. Data was
collected by the Supplemental Victimization Survey, a supplement to
the National Crime Victimization Survey, and was sponsored by the
Office on Violence Against Women. Data collection was conducted over
a six-month period in 2006. Source: he report is
available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/svus.pdf
More than seven million women and two million men in the US have been stalked, finds a study from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Stalking affects seven percent of women (one in 14 women) and two percent of men (one in 50 men) in the U.S. at some time in their lives. The study was published in the August 2006 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“Stalking in the United States, Recent National Prevalence Estimates” defines stalking as “being followed, spied on, or communicated with, without consent at a level perceived to be somewhat dangerous or life threatening.” It finds that individuals who are never married, separated, widowed or divorced report significantly higher rates of stalking than those who are married or living with a partner. Those 55 or older, or retired, are least likely to have been stalked. Results are based on findings from the Injury Control and Risk telephone survey conducted from 2001 to 2003. Nearly 10,000 women and men aged 18 and older participated.
A 2002 study found that the physical and mental health effects of
being stalked were not gender-related. Both male and female victims
experienced impaired health, depression, injury, and were more likely
to engage in substance abuse than their non- stalked peers.
Source: Davis, KE, Coker L, Sanderson M. 2002.
“Physical and Mental Health Effects of Being Stalked for Men and
Women.” Violence and Victims 17(4)
The Los Angeles Stalking and Threat Assessment Unit recently
reported that threatening email and other electronic communications
are factors in 20 percent of the stalking cases referred to their
office.
Source: National Institute of Justice. Violence
Against Women Office. 2001. "Stalking and Domestic Violence." The
Third Report to Congress under the Violence Against Women Act.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice
Strangers are the perpetrators in 23 percent of female stalking
incidents. Current or former husbands are the perpetrators 38 percent
of the time; current or former cohabiting partners are the
perpetrators 10 percent of the time; and current or former boyfriends
are the perpetrators 14 percent of the time.
Source: National Institute of Justice. Violence
Against Women Office. 2001. "Stalking and Domestic Violence." The
Third Report to Congress under the Violence Against Women Act.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice
Intimate partners that stalk are four times more likely than
intimate partners in the general population to physically assault
their victims and six times more likely to sexually assault their
victims.
Source: National Institute of Justice. Violence
Against Women Office. 2001. "Stalking and Domestic Violence." The
Third Report to Congress under the Violence Against Women Act.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice
A recent survey of college women indicates that the incidence rate
of stalking on campuses is far higher than previous surveys indicate.
Stalking behavior, defined as obsessive behavior that causes the
victim to fear for her safety, occurred at rates as high as 156.5 per
1000 female students or 13.1 percent of female students on college
campuses.
Source: National Institute of Justice. 2000. The
Sexual Victimization of College Women. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice
Female stalking victims on college campuses reported that they
were stalked two to six times a week. The duration of the stalking
was an average of 60 day
Source: National Institute of Justice. 2000. The
Sexual Victimization of College Women. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice
Three of the correlating factors that increase the risk of a
female being stalked on a college campus are spending time in bars;
living alone; and being in the early phase of a dating relationship,
as opposed to being married or living with an intimate partner.
Source: National Institute of Justice. 2000. The
Sexual Victimization of College Women. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice
The most common consequence of the stalking of college women was
psychological harm and emotional injury. Fifteen percent of the time,
the stalker threatened or attempted to harm the victim and 10 percent
of the time, the stalker forced or attempted sexual contact.
Source: National Institute of Justice. 2000. The
Sexual Victimization of College Women. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice
Current or former intimate partners stalk approximately 503,485
women and 185,496 men in the United States annually.
Source: National Institute of Justice. 2000. Extent,
Nature and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence. Washington, DC:
U.S. Department of Justice
Between 85.4% and 93.6% of stalking perpetrators are not
prosecuted. About 40% of those who are prosecuted are convicted,
however only 56.3% of convicted stalkers are sentenced to jail.
Source: Tjaden and Thoennes, 2000, US Department of
Justice
Most (78%) stalking victims are female and most (87%) stalking
perpetrators are male.
Source: Tjaden, P. and Thoennes, N., Stalking in
America: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey,
1998, NCJ 169592
Women are significantly more likely than men (59% and 30%,
respectively) to be stalked by intimate partners.
Source: Tjaden, P. and Thoennes, N., Stalking in
America: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey,
1998, NCJ 169592
81% percent of the women who were stalked by a current or former
husband or cohabiting partner were also physically assaulted by the
same partner, and 31% of the women who were stalked by a current or
former husband or cohabiting partner were also sexually assaulted by
the same partner.
Source: Tjaden, P. and Thoennes, N., Stalking in
America: Findings >From the National Violence Against Women
Survey, 1998, NCJ 169592
On one college campus, between 26.6% and 35.2% of female students
and between 14.7% and 18.4% of male students have been stalked.
Source: Fremouw, W.J., Westrup, D., &
Pennypacker, J., 1997. "Stalking on Campus: The Prevalence and
Strategies for Coping with Stalking," Journal of Forensic Science,
July 1997; 42(4): 666-669
Adults between 18 and 29 years old are the primary targets of
stalking, comprising 52% of all victims.
Source: Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against
Women website
Most stalking cases involve perpetrators and victims who know each
other; only 23% of all female victims and 36% of all male victims are
stalked by strangers.
Source: Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against
Women website
Source:www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=9
Each woman had police-reported or court-reported intimate-partner violence such as physical, psychological or sexual abuse. Each woman also filled out child behavior checklists by phone or mail. Researchers considered the surveyed child to be abused if any report triggered an investigation -- regardless of the findings of that investigation. This definition allows a "more sensitive measure" of mistreatment, and takes the difficulties of prosecuting abuse cases into account, according to the report. Investigators then compared the survey results from a Seattle sample of children with a nationally representative sample of children used to develop the checklist. The Child Behavior Checklist included questions on internalizing behaviors (depressive, withdrawn or anxious behavior) and externalizing behaviors (aggressive or delinquent behaviors).
The results were stronger among the children who had been abused
-- but those only exposed to their mothers' abuse were also affected
-- they were 60 percent more likely to show externalizing behaviors.
They were 40 percent more likely to test in the borderline to
clinical range for total behavioral problems.
Source: University of Washington-Seattle
Children who suffer family violence are at risk of perpetrating domestic abuse themselves once they reach adulthood, finds to a study that followed over five hundred families for 20 years.
Researchers at Columbia University say three factors are the strongest predictors: "serious behavior problems in adolescence, exposure to domestic violence, and power punishments by the parents—harsh discipline.” Being subjected to physical abuse as a child was most likely to connect to violent romantic relationships later in life. The study found no gender difference among the violent. Both men and women are equally likely to commit acts of physical aggression. More than 20 percent of both genders reported being violent with their partner; 5 percent of this violence brought injury to the partner.
Researchers at Columbia first contacted 543 randomly selected
children back in 1975. They, along with their parents, were
interviewed in 1983, 1985 and 1991. The final survey, done in 1999,
asked about aggressive behavior, romantic history and recent life
changes.
Source: August 2003 issue of the Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Children under the age of 12 resided in 43 percent of the
households in which domestic violence was reported between 1993 and
1998.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). May 2000.
Intimate Partner Violence. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Justice
Slightly more than half of female victims of intimate violence
live in households with children under the age of 12.
Source: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice
Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics Factbook: Violence by
Intimates, March 1998
Boys who have witnessed partner violence are much more likely to
become batterers in their adult relationships than boys who have not
had exposure to partner violence in their families. The data is mixed
for girls.
Source: Hotaling and Sugarman, 1996
A child's exposure to the father abusing the mother is the
strongest risk factor for transmitting violent behavior from one
generation to the next.
Source: Report of the American Psychological
Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family, APA,
1996
Children exposed to partner violence exhibit symptoms similar to
children who are physically and sexually abused, including the
perpetuation of violence.
Source: Davidson, 1995
In a national study of more than 6,000 American families, 50% of
the men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently abused
their children.
Source: Murray A Strauss, Richard J. Gelles, and
Christine Smith. Physical Violence in American Families; Risk Factors
and Adaptations to Violence in 8,145 Families (New Brunswick:
Transaction Publishers, 1990), 407-409
Men who as children witnessed their parents' domestic violence
were twice as likely to abuse their own wives than sons of nonviolent
parents.
Source: Murray A. Straus et al., Physical Violence in
American Families: Risk Factors and Adaptations to Violence in 8,145
Families. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1990
75% of boys who witnessed domestic violence have been found to
have demonstrable behavior problems.
Source: Jaffe, et al., 1987
Children exposed to partner violence condoned it to resolve
relationship conflicts more readily than did control groups.
Source: Jaffe, Wilson, and Wolfe, 1986
Between 3.3 and 10 million children witness domestic violence in
their home each year.
Source: Carlson, 1984
Studies show that children are being physically abused in
approximately half the families where the mother is a known victim of
domestic assault. Similarly, studies show that mothers are being
battered in approximately half the families where her child is a
known victim of physical abuse.
Source: Jeffrey L. Edleson, PhD, The Overlap Between
Child Maltreatment and Woman Abuse
Source: www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=10
Surprising levels of abusive behavior reported in tween (11-14) dating relationships.
Significant numbers of teens (15-18) are experiencing emotional and mental abuse as well as violence in their dating relationships; this is even more prevalent among teens that have had sex by the age of 14.
Among teens who had sex by age 14, abuse is much higher (58% and 59%, respectively).
The survey found that parents think they know about their tweens dating experiences, but many are in the dark about what their kids are actually doing. Results show that:
Liz Claiborne Inc. commissioned Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU)
to conduct quantitative research among tweens (ages 11-14), parents
of tweens, and teens (ages 15-18) who have been in a relationship.
The research pertained to young dating relationships and the
presence/absence of sexual activity and abusive behaviors. TRU
independently sampled the three groups and fielded a customized
15-minute survey online to each group from January 2-18, 2008; TRU
chose online as the data-collection method for this research not only
because of its high penetration (92%) among this population, but also
because of the sensitive nature of the content, allowing young people
to answer candidly (i.e., no adult interviewer) within the context of
their preferred communications method. A total of 1,043 tweens, 523
parents, and 626 teens completed the survey, resulting in a margin of
error (at the 95% confidence level) of ±3.0 percentage points
for tweens in total, ±3.9 points for parents, and ±4.1
points for teens (±5.5 among those 17-18).
Source: Liz Claiborne, Teen Research Unlimited
Survey, released July 2008
A study of public high school students in New York City found females who recently experienced dating violence and males who experienced sexual assault some time in their lives are more likely to report suicide attempts than their counterparts without similar histories of violence.
“Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Suicide Attempts Among Urban Teenagers” is published in the June 2007 edition of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.
In the survey, 9.6 percent of females and 5.4 percent of males reported a lifetime history of sexual assault, and 10.6 percent of females and 9.5 percent of males said they had experienced dating violence in the past year. Dating violence was defined as being hit, slapped or hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend.
Adolescent girls who reported dating violence were 60 percent more likely to report one or more suicide attempts in the past year, the survey found, and males who reported sexual assault were four times as likely to have attempted suicide.
A history of sexual assault in females and a history of dating violence in males did not increase the rates of attempted suicide, which is the third leading cause of death for adolescents.
Researchers surveyed 8,080 students age 14 and older in 87 New York City public high schools.
In a Liz Claiborne Survey released in March 2006, half (50%) of the 1,004 teens ages 13 to 18 surveyed reported they've been in a dating relationship and nearly a third (32%) said they've been in a serious relationship. This same survey found that:
According to a February 2005 Lifetime Television survey of 600 women and men, ages 16-24, intimate partner violence has personally touched their lives much more so than people have reported in prior studies:
Approximately seven in ten women (77%) and men (64%) said they know or have known someone in an abusive relationship and approximately six in ten say that they know a woman who has been sexually assaulted. This is a dramatic increase from a 1996 survey of adults 18+ that found that only 33% of respondents have known a woman in an abusive relationship.
For young women the personal connection is even more profound and the fear of sexual violence alters their daily life. Approximately nine out of ten (87%) young women said that they take special precautions to rarely or never walk alone after dark and nearly two-thirds (64%) said that they think about what could happen if they leave a drink unattended.
A majority (63%) named law enforcement as the first and second most responsible for addressing the problem. More than one-third of respondents (36%) said Congress is either first or second most responsible. A gender gap remains on how serious the issue is among men and women. 75% of young women think the issue is "extremely serious" compared to 57% of young men, thus demonstrating the importance of Lifetime's campaign, in collaboration with ESPN and others, to reach both women and men.
Young people are also willing to speak out and address violence against women themselves. When asked what they would do if they knew a friend or relative who was abusing a girlfriend or wife, half (50%) of all young men surveyed said that would say something to him about his abusive behavior. More than two-thirds (66%) said that they'd be somewhat or very likely to report the abuse to the police. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of both men and women said that they would urge the woman to get help.
Source: The survey was conducted online by The Michael Cohen Group for Lifetime Television from February 9-16, 2005, among 600 young people, 16-24 years of age. The sample was comprised of 50% female and 50% male respondents. One-third of respondents were 16-18; one-third of respondents were 19-21; one-third of respondents were 22-24. Additionally, quotas were set to ensure racial representation that is reflective of the U.S. population between 16-24 as a whole. A full report is available upon request from Lifetime Television
Brothers and sisters who fight while growing up lay the groundwork for battering their dates by the time they get to college, according to a University of Florida study. The survey found that dating violence was more common among partners who had punched, shoved or otherwise abused their siblings than those who had not. The study examined what happens between the ages of 10 and 14, when sibling violence peaks.
Siblings learn violence as a form of manipulation and control as they compete with each other for family resources. They carry on these bullying behaviors to dating, the next peer relationship in which they have an emotional investment.
More than three-fourths of people in the survey -- 78 percent -- reported being pushed or shoved by a sibling, while nearly as many -- 77 percent -- said they had pushed or shoved a sibling. Fifty-five percent said their sibling punched or hit them with something that could hurt, while half said they had done this to their sibling. One-quarter reported being slammed against a wall, and 27 percent said they had done the same to a sibling.
Overall, 9 percent said a sibling had used a knife or gun against them, while nearly 6 percent overall reported using a knife or gun against a sibling. The highest level of sibling violence was found between two brothers and the least between two sisters. No differences were found based on race or whether children had grown up in broken homes.
The survey of 538 men and women was conducted at a community
college in Hillsborough County, Florida. The research appears in a
supplement to the March/April 2004 issue of the American Journal of
Health Behavior.
Source: March/April 2004 American Journal of Health
Behavior
A study of more than 4,300 US students ages 11 to 21 found that 22 percent of females and 21 percent of males reported being abused by an intimate partner.
In questionnaires, researchers asked the students about their romantic and sexual relationships within the past 18 months. They were asked if they had been insulted in public, sworn at, pushed or threatened with violence, or whether their partners had ever thrown something at them.
The researchers also asked students about "high-risk behaviors," including substance use (alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana), antisocial behavior, violence and attempted suicide. They found that both males and females who reported being abused were significantly more likely than their peers to engage in high-risk behaviors. Abused female students were even more likely than abused males to report substance use.
For both sexes, abuse was tied to a higher risk of depression.
Older students (17 to 21 years old) and those with many partners
appeared more susceptible to abusive relationships. Among male
students, other factors that made abuse more likely were being
African American and living in a single-parent household.
Source: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent
Medicine 2003;157:375-380
Recently, the Justice Department found that women ages 16 and 24
are the most likely victims of intimate partner violence.
Source: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, October 2001
Teenage girls who have witnessed violence are two to three times
more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, taking
drugs, drinking alcohol and having unsafe sex. Teenage girls who have
experienced violence firsthand were also more likely to take these
health risks. In addition, they were two to four times more likely
than those with no exposure to violence to have sex at an early age,
have intercourse with strangers, have multiple sex partners or test
positive for a sexually transmitted disease.
Source: Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent
Medicine, November 2001
In a survey of over 4,000 9th through 12th-graders, approximately
1 in 5 female students (20.2% in 1997 and 18.0% in 1999) reported
being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner.
Source: JAMA, 2001
40% of teenage girls age 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age
who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.
Source: Children Now/Kaiser Permanente poll,
December, 1995
59% of college students surveyed at campuses across the US
reported personally knowing friends, relatives, or someone else close
to them affected by domestic violence.
Source: Roper Starch Worldwide, 1995, commissioned by
Liz Claiborne Inc, telephone survey of 300 college
students
20% of female homicide victims are between 15 and 24 years of
age.
Source: Levy, Barrie, 1993. In Love & In
Danger
More than one out of four high school students will experience
physical violence at the hands of someone they date.
Source: Lery; Dating Violence, 1991
Typically in 72-77% of the cases, violence occurs only after a
couple has become seriously involved, rather than in the early, more
casual stages of dating (Angela Browne, When Battered Women Kill, New
York: The Free Press, 1987;p.42) Young people tend to interpret the
violence of their partner as signifying love.
Source: Levy, 1991
21% to 53% of college students have experienced at least one
incident of dating violence
Source: as cited in Worth, Matthews & Coleman,
1990
Source: www.caepv.org/getinfo/facts_stats.php?factsec=11
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