Intimate partner violence and socioeconomic deprivation in England: findings from a national cross-sectional survey.

OBJECTIVES

We examined the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and its association with social deprivation in England.

METHODS

We used multivariable logistic regression to investigate IPV correlates among 21 226 men and women aged 16 to 59 years in the 2008 nationally representative cross-sectional British Crime Survey.

RESULTS

Lifetime IPV was reported by 23.8% of women and 11.5% of men. Physical IPV was reported by 16.8% and 7.0%, respectively; emotional-only IPV was reported by 5.8% and 4.2%, respectively. After adjustment for demographic confounders, lifetime physical IPV experienced by women was associated with social housing tenure (odds ratio [OR] = 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.0, 2.7), low household income (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.8, 2.7), poor educational attainment (OR = 1.2; 95% CI = 1.0, 1.5), low social class (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 0.3, 1.7), and living in a multiply deprived area (OR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.1, 1.7). Physical IPV experienced by men and emotional IPV experienced by either gender were generally not associated with deprivation factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Physical and emotional IPV are very common among adults in England. Emotional IPV prevention policies may be appropriate across the social spectrum; those for physical IPV should be particularly accessible to disadvantaged women.