Intimate Partner Violence in Belgium: Prevalence, Individual Health Outcomes, and Relational Correlates

Authors

  • Sabine Hellemans Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University
  • Ann Buysse Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University
  • Olivia De Smet Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University
  • Anne Wietzker Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5334/pb.af

Keywords:

intimate partner violence, psychological violence, mental health, relationship quality

Abstract

Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) using national samples is important to guide prevention efforts. However, the latest prevalence estimates for Belgium date from more than ten years ago. Therefore, this study used population-based cross-sectional data (N = 1,472) to assess to what extent adult women and men in Belgium experienced psychological, physical or sexual violence from their current partner in the last year. Next to assessing the association with individual health correlates, we explored the association between IPV and relationship quality. The annual prevalence of physical IPV in a current relationship was 1.3%. Only women experienced sexual IPV (0.3%). Fourteen percent of the respondents reported psychological violence and no differences were noted between women and men. Victims of psychological IPV reported adverse mental health outcomes and the effect was stronger for women than for men. Additionally, psychological victimization was associated with a diminished level of relationship quality, but no gender differences were noted.

Downloads

Published

2014-01-21

Issue

Vol. 54 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Research Article

License

Copyright (c) 2014 The Author(s)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms. If a submission is rejected or withdrawn prior to publication, all rights return to the author(s):

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

Submitting to the journal implicitly confirms that all named authors and rights holders have agreed to the above terms of publication. It is the submitting author's responsibility to ensure all authors and relevant institutional bodies have given their agreement at the point of submission.

Note: some institutions require authors to seek written approval in relation to the terms of publication. Should this be required, authors can request a separate licence agreement document from the editorial team (e.g. authors who are Crown employees).