Intimate Partner Violence Can Lead to Serious Injury
A key strategy in preventing intimate partner violence is the promotion of respectful, nonviolent intimate partner relationships through individual, community, and societal level change.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
If you are, or someone you know is, the victim of intimate partner violence and needs help, contact your local battered women's shelter or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233), 800-787-3224 TYY, or www.ndvh.org.*
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is committed to ensuring all Americans, especially those at risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), live their lives to their fullest potential. A key strategy in preventing IPV is the promotion of respectful, nonviolent intimate partner relationships through individual, community, and societal level change.
Intimate Partner Violence as a Public Health Problem
Intimate partner violence is violence that occurs between two people in a close relationship. The term "intimate partner" includes current and former spouses and dating partners. IPV exists along a continuum from a single episode of violence to ongoing battering. IPV includes four types of violence: physical violence, sexual violence, threats of physical or sexual violence, and emotional abuse.
IPV facts:
- In 2005, 1,510 people in the United States died at the hands of an intimate partner.
- The National Violence Against Women survey found that 22.1% of women and 7.4% of men experienced physical forms of IPV at some point in their lives.
- The cost of IPV against women, including medical care, mental health services, and lost productivity (e.g., time away from work), was an estimated $5.8 billion in 1995. Updated to 2003 dollars, that is more than $8.3 billion.
Prevention
All forms of IPV are preventable. The key to prevention is focusing on the first time someone hurts a partner (called first-time perpetration). Knowledge about the factors that prevent IPV is lacking. CDC is working to better understand the developmental pathways and social circumstances that lead to this type of violence. In addition, the agency is helping organizations evaluate the effectiveness of strategies, programs and policies to reduce the perpetration of intimate partner violence.
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