More threads by David Baxter PhD

David Baxter PhD

Late Founder
Psychological, Physical Abuse Equally Harmful To Health
October 24, 2002

(Center for the Advancement of Health) -- Abuse by an intimate partner can have serious immediate and long-term health consequences for both men and women, according to a new, large-scale study. And that abuse does not need to be physical or sexual to be harmful.

A high level of psychological abuse appears to put its victims at equal risk of developing physical and mental health problems...

Ann L. Coker, Ph.D., of the University of Texas School of Public Health, and her colleagues analyzed data obtained during the National Violence Against Women Survey. Surveyors telephoned 16,000 American adults aged 18 to 65, selected to represent the entire U.S. population, in order to document participants' health status and history of victimization by an intimate partner. For purposes of the survey, an "intimate partner" was defined as a current or former spouse or a cohabiting intimate partner, regardless of gender. The results appear in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Approximately 29 percent of the 6,790 women and 23 percent of the 7,122 men who responded reported at least one of the three forms of abuse from an intimate partner at some point in their lives. Psychological abuse was more commonly reported than either physical or sexual abuse, accounting for almost half of the violence among the women and more than three-quarters of the violence among the men.

Analysis of the health and partner violence data revealed that "physical and psychological intimate partner violence are associated with [many of the same] significant physical and mental health consequences for both male and female victims," Coker reports. Men and women who experienced either form of violence were more likely than participants who did not experience partner violence to develop a chronic physical or mental illness, and were more prone to poor general health, depression, injury and abuse of drugs and alcohol.

According to Coker, the finding that "women experiencing intimate partner violence are more likely to report poor physical and mental health" is consistent with previous research... The observation that the vast majority of men abused by their intimate partners suffer psychological violence is especially noteworthy...

..read more of this article
 
Replying is not possible. This forum is only available as an archive.
Top