Intimate Partner Abuse, also called “domestic violence” or “intimate partner violence”, can be defined as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner.
Abuse is physical, sexual, emotional, economic, psychological spiritual actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure, or wound.
Emotional abuse is one of the most common forms of intimate partner abuse. On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.
1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe intimate partner physical violence. 1 in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year. Medical costs stemming from intimate partner abuse is estimated to exceed $5 Billion Per Year.
85% of intimate partner violence victims are women. 72% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner; 94% of the victims of these murder suicides are female. It is estimated that about 70% of intimate partner violence is never reported to the police.
1/2 of all homeless women and children in the U.S. are fleeing from domestic violence. Researchers have estimated that as many as 10 million children are exposed to adult domestic violence each year. At least 68% of the youth who had either been trafficked or engaged in survival sex or commercial sex had done so while homeless.
On average, a person in an abusive relationship will attempt to leave 7 times before finally leaving for good. Women are up to 70 times more likely to be killed in the weeks after leaving their abusive partner than at any other time during the relationship.
The cycle of abuse is a cycle used to describe the way abuse sometimes occurs in relationships. The stages repeat themselves over and over again if the abuse follows this pattern. Intimate Partner Abuse does not have to follow a specific pattern or cycle.
Abuse Cycle Wheel courtesy of Cumbee Center