Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Oct 9;14(10):e0221049.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221049. eCollection 2019.

Prevalence, associated factors and health impact of intimate partner violence against women in different life stages

Belén Sanz-Barbero  1   2   3 , Natalia Barón  1   4 , Carmen Vives-Cases  2   4
Affiliations

Prevalence, associated factors and health impact of intimate partner violence against women in different life stages

Belén Sanz-Barbero et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objectives: The effect of age on intimate partner violence (IPV) against women has received little attention. The objective of this study is to analyze the prevalence, risk factors and health impact of current IPV in different life stages.

Methods: We analyzed a sub-sample of 8,935 ever-partnered women aged 16 years and older from the Spanish Macrosurvey on Gender Violence of 2014. Main outcomes: current physical/ sexual IPV and current psychological-only IPV. The impact of IPV on health was analyzed using the variables self-perceived health, mental health and activity limitations. Risk factors were assessed using the prevalence ratio (PR) from Poisson regression models with robust variance. Analyses were stratified by age (young people, adults, and elderly people).

Results: Abuse in childhood increases the likelihood of IPV in any life stage. A higher education level decreases the probability of physical/sexual IPV across all ages. Unemployment increases the probability of IPV in adult women (physical/sexual-IPV, PR:1.7; psychological-IPV, PR:1.3). Being an immigrant increases the likelihood of physical/sexual IPV in adult women (PRwomen:1.91). Women exposed to current physical/sexual IPV have a greater likelihood of reporting poor self-perceived health (PRyoungpeople:2.59; PRadults:1.68; PRelderly:1.28), poor mental health (PRyoungpeople:3.10; PRadults:2.61; PRedlerly:2.17) and activity limitations (PRyoungpeople:2.44; PRadults:1.98). For psychological IPV only, there is an increase in the probability of poor self-perceived health (PRadults:1.37; PRelderly:1.19), poor mental health (PRyoungpeople:2.24; PRadults:2.16; PRelderly:1.69), and activity limitations (PRadults:1.30; PRelderly:1.18).

Conclusions: We found both common factors and differential factors when looking at IPV by age group. This shows the need to link gender violence prevention with the social circumstances of the population across different life stages.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Type of current physical IPV (1a) and current psychological (1b) IPV by age group. a)Type of physical IPV by age group. Percentage over the total number of women who experience physical IPV b)Type of psychological IPV by age group. Percentage over the total number of women who experience psychological IPV.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Council of Europe. Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. 2011. https://rm.coe.int/168046031c. Accessed 17 December 2018.
    1. European Institute for Gender Equality. Estimating the costs of gender-based violence in the European Union. 2014. http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-publications/estimating-costs-gender-base.... Accessed 17 December 2018.
    1. United Nations Office on Drug and Crime. Global Study on Homicide 2013 (United Nations publication, Sales No. 14.IV.1). 2014. eISBN: 978-92-1-054205-0. http://www.unodc.org/documents/gsh/pdfs/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdf. Accessed 9 January 2019
    1. World Health Organization. Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. 2013. ISBN: 978 92 4 156462 5. http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/violence/978924156462... Accessed 9 January 2019
    1. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA): Violence Against Women Survey, 2012. 2015. Special Licence Access. [data collection]. UK Data Service. SN: 7730. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-7730-1 - DOI

Publication types