Differences in Help Seeking Between Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence and Other Interpersonal Violence

Background

Intimate partner violence (IPV) results in numerous physical and mental health consequences that survivors need to seek help to address. Research shows that some survivors do not seek help critically needed. Research also suggests that help seeking of IPV survivors are different from non-IPV survivors. Such differences in help seeking between IPV and non-IPV survivors can be critical in identifying potential needs of the survivors that have been overlooked by service providers and better serving IPV survivors. Many previous studies utilized small clinical samples and did not include a variety of influencing factors. This study fills this gap by using recent national data to examine how help seeking is different between IPV and non-IPV survivors, depending on the characteristics of survivors and violence incidents.

Methods

This study used the National Crime Victimization Survey from 2008 to 2014. Among a total of 48,246 respondents, the females aged 18 or over who reported interpersonal victimization were included in the study sample (N=1,001). IPV was defined by three types of violence (physical attack, sexual assault, and verbal threats) committed by intimate partners in the past 6 months. About half of the sample was IPV survivors and another half non-IPV survivors. The dependent variable was whether the survivor used any type of help (e.g., the police and medical care). Independent variables included the survivor’s characteristics; IPV status (i.e., IPV vs. non-IPV); and the types, severity, and consequences of IPV.  A hierarchical logistic regression analysis was conducted. Survivors’ characteristics were entered first in the model; IPV status added next; and all independent variables and their interaction terms with IPV status added to the final model.

Results

The results showed that IPV survivors’ help seeking were not so different from non-IPV survivors. Blacks and the widowed, divorced, or separated survivors were less likely to seek help. When IPV status was added to the model, IPV survivors were shown to be less likely to seek help than non-IPV survivors. However, all independent variables being in the model, there was no difference in help seeking between IPV and non-IPV survivors. Instead, a certain type (sexual assault), severity (severe injury), and consequences of IPV (long term mental health problems) were positively associated with help seeking. The widowed, divorced, or separated survivors of IPV were more likely to seek help than non-IPV counterparts.

Conclusions

It is alarming that black survivors were less likely to seek help. It might mean that race still means a lot in the survivor’s seeking whatever type of help. It is encouraging that IPV survivors’ help seeking was not different from non-IPV survivors. It might mean that many barriers to IPV survivors’ help seeking have been addressed, even partially. The widowed, divorced, or separated survivors of IPV being more likely to seek help than non-IPV counterparts might mean that IPV survivors’ help seeking is an outcome of the complicated consideration of ever-changing factors surrounding them, which ensures the need for future research.