Abstract
Purpose
Intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure in childhood is common, with impacts on lifespan well-being. However, there are knowledge gaps about needs and barriers to services for IPV survivors with children.
Method
We analyzed data from adults aged ≥ 19 years who resided in the U.S., were experiencing IPV, and who contacted the National Domestic Violence Hotline from 1/1/ 2017–12/31/2021 (N = 599,207). Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) and 95% CIs were calculated to compare differences in IPV exposure, service requests, and service access barriers for IPV survivors with and without children at home, adjusting for age, gender, and race/ethnicity. We examined time trends (2017–2021), with comparisons before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results
Many adult IPV survivors (42.6%) reported having a child at home; survivors with children reported greater polyvictimization (mean IPV types: 2.27, SD: 1.03) than those without children (M: 2.06, SD: 1.04). A small proportion of those with children requested support identifying child-focused services (4.1%); a greater proportion of those with children (30.8%) requested economic stability services compared to those without children (25.2%) (aPR: 1.16, 95% CI: 1.15–1.17). Additionally, 33.1% of survivors with children at home reported having any service access barrier; this was 16% higher than adult IPV survivors without children (28.7%) (aPR: 1.16, 95% CI: 1.15–1.17). There were changes over time, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusions
IPV survivors with children need additional supports; organizations serving IPV survivors with children may consider the unique needs and victimization profile of this population when designing interventions and services.
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Data Availability
The data are not publicly available.
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Appendix 1
Appendix 1
Fig. 3
Trends in the proportion of adult intimate partner violence survivors contacting The Hotline* with children at home, January 1, 2017–December 31, 2021. IPV = intimate partner violence; *The Hotline refers to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides essential tools and support to help survivors of intimate partner violence so that they can live their lives free of abuse. This analysis includes data from U.S. adults aged ≥ 19 years who were experiencing intimate partner violence and who contacted The Hotline from January 1, 2017–December 31, 2021
Table 5
Trends in reported intimate partner violence types experienced by adult survivors contacting The Hotline* with children at home, January 1, 2017– December 31, 2021. *The Hotline refers to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides essential tools and support to help survivors of intimate partner violence so that they can live their lives free of abuse. This analysis includes data from U.S. adults aged ≥ 19 years who were experiencing intimate partner violence, reported having children at home, and who contacted The Hotline from January 1, 2017–December 31, 2021. §Given co-occurrence of emotional IPV with other IPV types, when digital, economic or financial, physical, or sexual IPV are disclosed during a hotline contact, The Hotline codes these contacts as inclusive of emotional IPV (i.e., a contact who discloses physical IPV, for example, would be coded as experiencing emotional and physical IPV). Emotional IPV can also be reported and coded as the sole form of IPV experienced. This results in the majority of IPV survivors with known IPV types coded as having experienced emotional violence; there are a small proportion of IPV survivors with an unknown type of IPV that are not coded to have experienced emotional violence
Trends in reported intimate partner violence types experienced by adult survivors contacting The Hotline* without children at home, January 1, 2017–December 31, 2021. *The Hotline refers to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides essential tools and support to help survivors of intimate partner violence so that they can live their lives free of abuse. This analysis includes data from U.S. adults aged ≥ 19 years who were experiencing intimate partner violence, did not report having children at home, and who contacted The Hotline from January 1, 2017–December 31, 2021. §Given co-occurrence of emotional IPV with other IPV types, when digital, economic or financial, physical, or sexual IPV are disclosed during a hotline contact, The Hotline codes these contacts as inclusive of emotional IPV (i.e., a contact who discloses physical IPV, for example, would be coded as experiencing emotional and physical IPV). Emotional IPV can also be reported and coded as the sole form of IPV experienced. This results in the majority of IPV survivors with known IPV types coded as having experienced emotional violence; there are a small proportion of IPV survivors with an unknown type of IPV that are not coded to have experienced emotional violence
Trends in the proportion of adult intimate partner violence survivors without children at home who requested support from The Hotline* to identify economic stability services, January 1, 2017–December 31, 2021. *The Hotline refers to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides essential tools and support to help survivors of intimate partner violence so that they can live their lives free of abuse. This analysis includes data from U.S. adults aged ≥ 19 years who were experiencing intimate partner violence, did not report having children at home, and who contacted The Hotline from January 1, 2017–December 31, 2021
Table 6
Fig. 7
Trends in the proportion of adult intimate partner violence survivors without children at home who reported having any barriers to service access, The Hotline*, January 1, 2017–December 31, 2021. *The Hotline refers to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides essential tools and support to help survivors of intimate partner violence so that they can live their lives free of abuse. This analysis includes data from U.S. adults aged ≥ 19 years who were experiencing intimate partner violence, did not report having children at home, and who contacted The Hotline from January 1, 2017–December 31, 2021
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Anderson, K.N., Chen, M.S., Swedo, E.A. et al. Child-Focused and Economic Stability Service Requests and Barriers to Service Access Among Intimate Partner Violence Survivors With and Without Children, 2017–2021. J Fam Viol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-023-00597-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-023-00597-5