Intimate Partner Violence

In 2007, domestic violence resulted in 2,340 deaths in the United States, and 70% of those killed were female (CDC, 2012). Each year in the United States, one in four women are victims of intimate partner violence (Stahly, 2008) and the U.S. Department of Justice has estimated that this number could be doubled as it only represents the women who repot abuse to the police.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is described as physical, sexual or psychological harm executed by a current or former partner. For the purpose of this paper, domestic violence and intimate partner violence both denote violence enacted by one intimate partner against another. As per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) physical violence is the premeditated use

of physical force with the potential for causing death, disability, injury or harm. Sexual violence is divided into three categories: use of physical force to coerce a person to engage in a sexual act against his or her will, whether or no the act is accomplished; attempted or completed sex act including a person who is incapable of understanding the nature or circumstance of the act, to decline participation, or to communicate reluctance to engage in the sexual act; and abusive sexual contact. Psychological or emotional violence encompasses trauma to the victim caused by acts, threats of acts, or forcible tactics (Saltzman et al. 2002).
Personality has been associated with an extensive range of relationship experiences, including satisfaction, quality and stability, but it is imperative to also ponder how intrapersonal traits are related with interpersonal behaviors that can ultimately cause the termination or dissatisfaction of a relationship. Since the early 1990s, personality research has shown reappearance in the field of studying relationships, predominantly because we presently have a better understanding of personality. This study explores whether personality is associated to sustaining psychological, physical and/or sexual IPV.
PERSONALITY
When research on intimate partner violence began over three decades ago, the enactment and victimization of physical aggression in relationships was often associated to personality traits.

There are five dimensions, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness, which are fundamental characteristics of personality. High conscientiousness foretells good work performance and good health while low agreeableness and high neuroticism are connected with poor health; high agreeableness is linked to helping others; high extraversion predicts leadership; high neuroticism is associated with depression; and high openness is correlated to creativity (Malouff, Thoresteinsson, & Schutte, 2005). Although most people who marry dream of living happily ever after, numerous personality traits appear to predispose some to an ending far less romantic. Certain traits can lead partners to be at greater risk for undergoing distress and instability in their intimate relationships (McGue & Lykken, 1992; Robins, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2002; Spotts et al., 2005). Describe the study. Openness has been negatively correlated to martial stability and satisfaction and openness to aesthetics, ideas, values, and general openness have been connected to decreased relationship length. High agreeableness was related to nurturance. Conscientiousness had positive relationship characteristics such as relationship stability and relationship length (Article#3). Hines and Saudino conducted a study to see if personality traits correlated with abusers and victims of abuse. Women who were higher in extraversion and lower in agreeableness sustained more psychological aggression at the hands of their dating partner. High neuroticism and low agreeableness predicted women’s receipt of physical aggression and high neuroticism and conscientiousness and low agreeableness were associated with receipt of sexual aggression

(2008).
INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE
Each year in the United States, one in four women are victims of intimate partner violence (Stahly 2008) and the U.S. Department of Justice has estimated that this number could be doubled as it represents only the women who report abuse to the police. Domestic violence resulted in 2340 deaths in the United States in 2007, and 70% of those killed were female (CDC 2012). Attitudes toward intimate partner violence are far more accepting than should be. In a study done on a Boston college campus 42% of 200 Boston students blamed recording artist Rihanna for the 2009 attack by her intimate partner, Chris Brown (Boston Public Health Commission, 2009), signifying a designation of blame toward the victim (Article #4).
The theory that abused women are inadequately educated and have insufficient job skills and therefore, are economically dependent on their partners has been contested by several studies. Walker (1983) gathered data on 400 battered women and discovered that 40% had some college education and 23% had some post-graduate education. Rounsville (1978) found that women had either more advanced job skills or education than their violent partners. Numerous of the women in this study spoke of the want to care for a needy partner as an influence in their getting together, and the women cultivated to see themselves as more proficient than the men and more verbally skillful.