About Intimate Partner Violence

Key points

  • Intimate partner violence is a significant public health issue.
  • Intimate partner violence has a profound impact on lifelong health, opportunity, and well-being.
  • Promoting healthy relationships and communities can help reduce intimate partner violence.
two women

Overview

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is abuse or aggression that occurs in a romantic relationship. Intimate partner refers to both current and former spouses and dating partners.

IPV can vary in how often it happens and how severe it is. It can range from one episode of violence to chronic and severe episodes over multiple years.

IPV can include any of the following types of behavior: 1

  • Physical violence is when a person hurts or tries to hurt a partner by using physical force.
  • Sexual violence is forcing or attempting to force a partner to take part in a sex act, sexual touching, or a non-physical sexual event (e.g., sexting) when the partner does not or cannot consent.
  • Stalking is a pattern of repeated, unwanted attention and contact by a partner that causes fear or concern for one's own safety or the safety of someone close to the victim.
  • Psychological aggression is the use of verbal and non-verbal communication with the intent to harm a partner mentally or emotionally or to exert control over a partner.

Quick facts and stats

IPV is common. It affects millions of people in the United States each year. More than 1 in 3 women (nearly 43.5 million) and more than 1 in 6 men (20.7 million) experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetimes.2

Among women, about 1 in 5 experienced contact sexual violence (19.7%), nearly 1 in 4 experienced physical violence (22.5%), and about 1 in 8 were stalked (12.2%). Among men, nearly 1 in 23 experienced contact sexual violence (4.4%), about 1 in 7 experienced physical violence (13.7%), and almost 1 in 24 were stalked (4.2%).2

In their lifetimes, nearly 1 in 3 women and about 1 in 8 men experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking and at least one related impact. Some impacts included physical injury, missing work or school, safety concerns, medical care needs, and filing a police report.2

IPV starts early and continues throughout people's lives. When IPV occurs in adolescence, it is called teen dating violence. About 16 million women and 11 million men said that they first experienced intimate partner violence before age 18.3

Some individuals and communities experience differences in risk for violence due to the conditions in which they live, work, and play. Youth from particular demographic groups are at greater risk of experiencing sexual and physical dating violence.4

Outcomes

Intimate partner violence can result in injuries and even death. Data from U.S. crime reports suggest that about one in five homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner. The reports also found that over half of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former male intimate partner.5

Many other negative health outcomes are associated with intimate partner violence. These include conditions affecting the heart, muscles and bones, and digestive, reproductive, and nervous systems, many of which are chronic.5

Survivors can experience mental health problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. They are at higher risk for engaging in behaviors such as smoking, binge drinking, and risky sexual activity. People from some racial and ethnic minority groups are at higher risk for worse consequences.6

Although the personal consequences of intimate partner violence are devastating, there are also many costs to society. The lifetime economic cost of IPV-related medical care, lost productivity from paid work, and criminal justice costs, is $3.6 trillion. The cost of IPV over a victim’s lifetime was $103,767 for women and $23,414 for men.7

Prevention

Intimate partner violence can be prevented. Certain factors may increase or decrease the risk of perpetrating or experiencing intimate partner violence.

Preventing intimate partner violence requires understanding and addressing the factors that put people at risk for or protect them from violence.

Promoting healthy, respectful, and nonviolent relationships and communities can help reduce the occurrence of intimate partner violence. It also can prevent the harmful and long-lasting effects of intimate partner violence on individuals, families, and communities.

Keep Reading Preventing Intimate Partner Violence
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Content Source:
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
  1. Breiding MJ, Basile KC, Smith SG, Black MC, Mahendra RR. Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements, Version 2.0. Atlanta (GA): National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2015.
  2. Zhang Kudon, H, Zhu S, Chen B, Breiding MJ, Leemis RW, Zhang X, Schwank A, Basile KC. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2023/2024 Data Brief – Intimate Partner Violence. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; 2026.
  3. Leemis RW, Friar N, Khatiwada S, Chen MS, Kresnow M, Smith SG, Caslin S, & Basile KC. (2022). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2016/2017 Report on Intimate Partner Violence. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  4. Johns MM, Lowry R, Haderxhanaj LT, Rasberry CN, Robin L, Scales L, Stone D, Suarez NA. Trends in violence victimization and suicide risk by sexual identity among high school students—Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2015–2019. MMWR supplements. 2020 Aug 21;69(1):19.
  5. Jack SP, Petrosky E, Lyons BH, et al. Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 27 States, 2015. MMWR Surveill Summ 2018;67(No. SS-11):1–32. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6711a1external
  6. Stockman JK, Hayashi H, Campbell JC. Intimate Partner Violence and its Health Impact on Ethnic Minority Women [corrected] [published correction appears in J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2015 Mar;24(3):256]. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2015;24(1):62-79. doi:10.1089/jwh.2014.4879
  7. Peterson C, Kearns MC, McIntosh WL, Estefan LF, Nicolaidis C, McCollister KE, & Florence C. (2018). Lifetime Economic Burden of Intimate Partner Violence Among U.S. Adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 55(4), 433–444.