Introduction

Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes any threatened or completed acts of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse committed by a spouse, ex-spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend, or dating partner (Saltzman et al., 1999). This definition includes such behaviors as physical violence, rape, stalking, reproductive coercion, and coercive control (that is, the deliberate and systematic use of violence, intimidation, isolation, or control to undermine a partner's autonomy and to compel their obedience) (Stark, 2007). IPV is a form of gender-based violence in that the majority of victims are women, and there is widespread evidence that IPV affects a sizable number of women throughout the world. Although estimates of IPV rates vary depending on the sample studied and how questions are worded, commonly cited estimates in the US are that 12–25% of women are physically and/or sexually assaulted by an intimate partner each year (Black et al., 2011; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Globally, it is estimated that nearly one third (30%) of women who have been in an intimate relationship have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by an intimate partner in their lifetime (World Health Organization, 2016). In some regions of the world, the percentages are even higher: 40.6% in Andean Latin America, 41.8% in West Sub-Saharan Africa, 41.7% in South Asia, and 65.6% in Central Sub-Saharan Africa (Devries et al., 2013).

That women are more likely to be IPV victims and men are more likely to be IPV perpetrators does not mean that men are never victimized by IPV. In the US, for example, it is estimated that 7.6–11.5% of men are physically and/or sexually assaulted by an intimate partner each year (Black et al., 2011; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Most studies, however, show that there are important differences between IPV perpetrated by women and IPV perpetrated by men in heterosexual relationships. Research indicates, for example, that women's and men's motivations for using violence against an intimate partner differ. Men are more likely to use violence when they perceive themselves to be losing control of the relationship, or when they interpret their partner's words or behavior as challenges to their authority.