Understanding intimate partner violence in context: social and community correlates of special and general victimization

Abstract

In prior research, intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization has been predominantly studied as distinct from other forms of violent victimization. As a result, relatively little is known about IPV victimization in relation to other violent victimization and the extent to which same people tend to be both IPV and other violent victims. In this study, the combined data from five sweeps of the Finnish National Crime Victim Survey (N = 25,927) is used to examine violent poly-victimization among IPV victims and to compare social and community correlates of IPV victimization and other violent victimization. The results indicate that IPV victims are significantly more likely to be victims of other violent actions than those who have not been victimized by an intimate partner. Moreover, IPV victimization shares similar correlates with other violent victimization. However, more research is needed on the causal mechanisms behind the associations between IPV and general violence.