Paths to intimate relationship aggression: Interplay among individual, social and relationship factors

Dating violence among college aged couples has become a growing concern. Over time, various explanations of dating aggression have been proposed. The current study investigated the interplay among (i) individual factors, such as witnessing violence during childhood, (ii) couple context interaction factors, such as power differential, sexism, dominance within the relationship, (iii) relationship functioning factors from an attachment perspective, and (iv) dating aggression, which was composed of sexual coercion, physical assault, degradation, and psychological abuse. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test model fit to the data. Findings indicated that the proposed model provided a good fit to the with a χ2 to df ratio of 1.84. In particular, the attachment insecurity based relationship dysfunction latent variable, which was created by models of self and others, affect regulation behaviors, and secure base scripts, had a significant direct effect on relationship aggression, controlling for all else in the model. This was observed for both male and female participants. More specifically, both female and male participants who reported higher levels of relationship dysfunction were more likely to be abused by their partner in their relationships. Furthermore, for female participants, experience of parental conflict also had a significant direct effect on the experience of relationship aggression from their partner to their self. Finally, results indicated that social factors in the relationship context, such as need for dominance/control, low value of egalitarianism, and a greater value placed on sexism, had no direct effect on relationship aggression when all else was controlled in the model

Adverse health correlates of intimate partner violence against older women: Mining electronic health records.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is often studied as a problem that predominantly affects younger women. However, studies show that older women are also frequently victims of abuse even though the physical effects of abuse are harder to detect. In this study, we mined the electronic health records (EHR) available through IBM Explorys to identify health correlates of IPV that are specific to older women. Our analyses suggested that diagnostic terms that are co-morbid with IPV in older women are dominated by substance abuse and associated toxicities. When we considered differential co-morbidity, i.e., terms that are significantly more associated with IPV in older women compared to younger women, we identified terms spanning mental health issues, musculoskeletal issues, neoplasms, and disorders of various organ systems including skin, ears, nose and throat. Our findings provide pointers for further investigation in understanding the health effects of IPV among older women, as well as potential markers that can be used for screening IPV