The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between partner abuse and measures of distress in nonresident fathers. The impact of partner abuse on women has been widely studied but has been considered less often for male victims. Mental well-being and social/emotional isolation (loneliness) were quantified in this cross-sectional study using validated measures for a cohort of nonresident fathers in Wales. The study population was found to have substantially higher loneliness and lower mental well-being than the general population. Of 15 predictor variables that might potentially have an association with these adverse outcomes, the fathers’ experience of partner abuse was the variable most strongly associated, and its effect size was large and significant. The severity and prevalence of the observed degraded well-being and severe loneliness challenge the notion that partner abuse of men is either relatively uncommon compared with that of women or that it is lacking in a comparable impact.

Gender inequality is widely understood to be crucial to explaining the prevalence of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW). Yet the “civilization thesis” links a decline in violence in general in the Western world to modernization processes/socioeconomic development that began during the Enlightenment. The research presented here asks whether cross-national differences in World Health Organization survey-based estimates of IPVAW rates are more strongly linked to gender inequality than they are to socioeconomic development. Gender Development Index and Gender Gap Index (GGI) measures are used because, unlike other gender inequality measures used in cross-national comparisons, they fully separate gender inequality from women’s absolute level of attainment (the latter is strongly linked to socioeconomic development). Findings from linear regression models that controlled for relevant variables indicate that low socioeconomic development (not gender inequality) is key to whether a country has a high estimated IPVAW rate. In all nine models, at least one socioeconomic development variable was a stronger predictor of IPVAW rates than any gender inequality variable. Absolute poverty rates were a consistently significant predictor of IPVAW, while the GGI’s educational inequality component was the only significant gender inequality predictor. Hence, the findings highlight the need to eradicate the world’s worst material conditions and equalize educational provision.

This article provides a contemporary and systematic review of the research on the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the last decade and extends the work of Carney and Barner (2012). Under review are emotional abuse and control, sexual coercion, and stalking, along with a separate examination of when these IPV subsets are combined with physical assaults on intimate partners. In the sections that follow, each subtopic is operationally defined using the same definitions employed in the original review (Carney & Barner, 2012) and which are common to the social science research, and tabular and narrative data on the incidence and prevalence of each subtopic and the combined category are presented. The studies sampled for this review are further categorized into those that study large populations, smaller communities, university- or school-based samples, clinical samples, forensic or legal samples, and, when possible, samples of particularly relevant subpopulations. The focus of this article is on prevalence, but this background explains the difficulties with clearly capturing the prevalence of physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual coercion, and stalking, both in the reporting due to differing methodologies, potential overrepresentation among low socioeconomic communities and communities of color, and the reluctance to capture IPV perpetrated by women. The article ends with conclusions that can be drawn from the review and the potential implications for research, practice, and IPV scholarship.

This study examined how mental health and intimate partner violence (IPV) relate to women’s beliefs about their ability to communicate with partners about sexual history and risk (i.e., sex behavior self-efficacy). Participants were composed of 148 women (Mage= 34.6; 69% non-Hispanic Black; 74% income <$20,000/year) recruited from community organizations in the US Mid-South. A hierarchical linear regression was used to examine associations among sex behavior self-efficacy and depressive symptoms, resilience (Model 1) and physical IPV, psychological IPV, sexual IPV, negotiation, and IPV perpetration (Model 2). The final model was significant with variability in sex behavior self-efficacy explained by depressive symptoms, partner negotiation frequency, and IPV perpetration. Findings highlight novel areas to consider when assessing barriers and facilitators of partner communication and when developing culturally responsive interventions for women experiencing relationship-based adversity.

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the rate of intimate partner violence (IPV) all over the world, including Iran. This study used a qualitative phenomenological method to identify and analyze 10 Iranian women’s experiences of IPV during the pandemic. Using purposive sampling, semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted, and the data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s (1978) data analysis method. Data analysis revealed that during the pandemic, IPV was exacerbated by financial stress, children’s online education, conflict over health protocols, and social isolation. Participants reported trying many ways to cope with IPV, including focusing on religion and spirituality, seeking new hobbies, seeking help from their families, and seeking professional counselors. This research emphasized the importance of understanding cultural factors when offering services to IPV victims or survivors and demonstrated that IPV survivors, even in collectivist countries, need legal and mental health support.

Several studies have investigated the risk factors for the perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) over the years. However, most research on IPV has focused on physical violence, limiting our understanding of psychological aggression. This study addressed this limitation by examining the relative contribution of several individual and relational risk factors (i.e., alcohol and cannabis use, relationship satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and attachment insecurities) with regard to the use of psychological aggression in both partners of couples reporting high relationship distress. The sample included 392 couples seeking relationship therapy. Couples were recruited by their therapist during the first therapy session and the partners completed the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale, the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test, the abbreviated Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the abbreviated Experiences in Close Relationships, and the Psychological Symptoms Index. We conducted path analyses based on the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model. When accounting for all factors in a single model, lower relationship satisfaction and higher attachment-related avoidance were associated with both partners’ higher use of psychological aggression. Cannabis use and harmful alcohol use were not associated with the individual’s own use of psychological aggression, but they were associated with their partner’s higher use of psychological aggression. Depressive symptoms and attachment anxiety were not significant predictors of psychological aggression. There were no gender differences in these associations. The findings of the present study suggest that several intrapersonal and interpersonal risk factors explain the use of psychological aggression in couples.

Research on behavior seeking to disrupt, deny, or negatively impact the parent–child relationship, sometimes labeled as parental alienation (PA), has burgeoned in recent years. Despite this proliferation, the theoretical and practical conceptualization of PA is still a highly controversial topic, not helped by the potential outpacing of academic knowledge on PA in relation to its application in socio-legal and clinical contexts. Confusion and controversy persist despite several recent reviews seeking to provide clarity on different areas of PA-related discourse (e.g., its effect on alienated children). The current narrative review, therefore, sought to synthesize learnings from those reviews (most of which were published between 2020 and 2022), with subsequently published work, in the most comprehensive and contemporaneous overview of PA to date. As a narrative review, there were no specific inclusion criteria, other than a limitation to English manuscripts and literature from the last 10 years. Snowballing was also utilized, whereby reference lists were used to identify further papers for inclusion. The resulting review outlines current understandings of (a) the key areas of controversy relating to PA, including how it is defined, its use in family court proceedings, and recommendations on intervention; (b) how PA is enacted, by whom, and in what contexts; and (c) how PA impacts on parents, children, and other family members. Crucially, urgent recommendations for further research directions are then made, particularly in relation to legal applications and therapeutic intervention.

Purpose: COVID-19 is an unprecedented pandemic that has caused an increase in the intimate partner violence (IPV) victims rate, and social service-providing agencies shifted to emergency online and distance service-providing systems. In our study, we aimed to explore the experiences of IPV service providers during this pandemic.Method: We used a cross-sectional qualitative method containing some quantitative questions. Data were collected by conducting 15 in-depth interviews and a survey with the service providers (22–65 years old) from six IPV service-providing agencies that are located in the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex in North Central Texas. We used a phenomenological hermeneutical method to capture the service providers’ experiences.Results: Four key themes highlight the essence of the experiences of the IPV service providers while providing the services during COVID-19. The four major themes are (a) experiences with telehealth, (b) barriers to social and legal services, (c) altered relationships, and (d) mental health impacts. In addition, a few subthemes are explored under the first three major themes. The service providers we interviewed provided details and vital information regarding challenges, adaptations, and resilience they experienced to assist the most disadvantaged group of the population.Conclusion: This study will contribute to making attention to improving facilities, accessibility, and resources for both service providers and their clients. Findings highlight the need for agency owners and policymakers to consider more multimodal and creative solutions for such a vulnerable population and their service providers.

Previous research has demonstrated the profound negative impact of both intimate partner violence (IPV) and parental alienation (PA) on both the mental and physical health of fathers. However, considering the increasing arguments for PA to be categorized and examined as a form of IPV, there is an urgent need to explore the impact of PA as part of a broader pattern of IPV. This is a particularly relevant line of inquiry for fathers as men are largely invisibilized in research examining IPV. The present study analyzed qualitative responses to an online survey by 171 fathers who have experienced alienating behaviors within the context of IPV. Three themes were identified: impact on fathers (including health, finances, grief, identity, and relationships), perceived impact on children (including siblings and extended family, health and well-being, and loss of childhood), and impact on relationships with children (including lack of closeness, feeling responsible, and improvements over time). The impacts described by men are discussed in relation to the theoretical and practical relationship between IPV and PA, and the implications for support and help-seeking for men experiencing this form of abuse.