How can a developmental and ecological model inform research on primary prevention of intimate partner violence?

Given high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the limited success of treatment interventions for perpetrators, future research needs to shift toward primary prevention of violence (i.e., prevention before violence begins). Most primary prevention has traditionally focused on individual-level and school-based interventions for middle and high school students. We suggest that a broad expansion is needed in how primary prevention of IPV is conceptualized and implemented. Specifically, we suggest that a more developmental and ecological approach is needed, one that considers how IPV develops and one that considers how the various spheres of influence operate to produce (or prevent) IPV. A developmental perspective would seek to understand the early precursors and trajectories of IPV and related behaviors, and to consider risk and protective factors as being developmentally specific. An ecological perspective would focus on a range of risk and protective factors at various levels of influence (individual, relationship, community, and societal level) and how those levels interact to produce IPV. We turn to the literature on youth violence, where such a developmental social-ecological framework has been applied with encouraging results, for lessons learned that could inform developmental, ecological research on primary prevention of IPV. Critical issues in bringing a developmental, ecological perspective to the study of partner violence include understanding trajectories of IPV, understanding different types of perpetrators and perpetration behaviors, and understanding the role of sex and gender in the development of IPV. Lastly we discuss implications of such an approach for policy, practice, and research.