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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Matthew J. Breiding, PhD, Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, MS-K60, Atlanta, GA 30341-3724, 770-488-1396, mbreiding@cdc.gov and Michele C. Lynberg, PhD MPH, Etiology and Surveillance Branch, CDC, NCIPC, Division of Violence Prevention, 2939 Flowers Road South, Koger Center, Vanderbilt Building, MS K-60, Atlanta, GA 30341.

Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) has serious health consequences, including poor general health, depressive symptoms, substance use, and elevated rates of chronic disease. Despite the public health importance of IPV, no national studies estimating prevalence have been conducted since 1995. Furthermore, the lack of state-specific data has limited efforts to design and evaluate localized IPV prevention programs.

Methods: Questions about IPV were first included as an optional module in the 2005 BRFSS and were administered to more than 48,000 people in 20 U.S. states/territories. Lifetime and one-year prevalence rates were calculated from preliminary, unweighted data; rates were stratified by gender, state, race/ethnicity, and age.

Results: Approximately 22.4% of respondents (14.9% of men, 27.2% of women) reported IPV victimization within their lifetime and 1.2% (0.7% of men, 1.5% of women) experienced IPV within the past year. Lifetime prevalence estimates of states/territories ranged from 18.4% to 29.4%, and one-year prevalence estimates ranged from 0.4% to 2.7%. Annual prevalence ranged from 1.0% among non-Hispanic White respondents to 2.2% among Native American/Alaskan respondents, and ranged from 0.2% among those over age 55 to 3.8% among those aged 18-24 years.

Conclusions: IPV continues to be a significant public health problem. Approximately 1 in 7 men and 1 in 4 women have experienced IPV in their lifetime and nearly 2.5 million people experience IPV in the U.S. each year. State-specific prevalence estimates of IPV, and information about the subgroups most impacted, will aid in the design and evaluation of programs aimed at preventing IPV.

Learning Objectives:

• Define Intimate Partner Violence (as identified by CDC).
• Estimate rates of Intimate Partner Violence in the United States.
• Identify populations that are particularly at-risk for Intimate Partner Violence.

Keywords: Violence, Injury

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered