Co-occurrence of intimate partner violence and child sexual abuse: Prevalence, risk factors and related issues

Abstract

This article proposes a review of the scientific literature on the cooccurrence of intimate partner violence and intrafamilial child sexual abuse. The review of these two types of violence has evolved in distinct research fields and their cooccurrence has rarely been examined. The objective of this article is to examine the existing knowledge about this cooccurrence. A systematic examination of the scientific literature in several relevant databases was conducted using combinations of 20 keywords so as to identify scientific articles, published between 2003 and 2013, that investigated this cooccurrence. The final sample comprised 10 studies. These studies revealed the presence of much heterogeneity regarding the prevalence of the cooccurrence for intimate partner violence with sexual abuse and other maltreatment (from 12% to 70%). The review also highlighted a greater risk for children to be victims of sexual abuse or other maltreatment when exposed to intimate partner violence. The implications of these results and the ensuing recommendations for practice and future research are considered in the discussion section.

Keywords: Child sexual abuse; Co-occurrence; Intimate partner violence.