Know the Facts
The Facts About Domestic Violence
General
On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States.During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.[i]
1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner contact sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking with impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, use of victim services, contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, etc.[i]
1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. This includes a range of behaviors (e.g. slapping, shoving, pushing) and in some cases might not be considered "domestic violence.[i]
1 in 7 women and 1 in 25 men have been injured by an intimate partner.[i]
1 in 10 women have been raped by an intimate partner. Data is unavailable on male victims.[i]
1in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have been victims of severe physical violence (e.g. beating, burning, strangling) by an intimate partner in their lifetime.[i]
1 in 7 women and 1 in 18 men have been stalked by an intimate partner during their lifetime to the point in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.[i]
On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide.[i]
The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%.[i]
Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime.[i]
Women between the ages of 18-24 are most commonly abused by an intimate partner.[i]
19% of domestic violence involves a weapon.[i]
Domestic victimization is correlated with a higher rate of depression and suicidal behavior.[i]
Only 34% of people who are injured by intimate partners receive medical care for their injuries.[i]
Sexual Violence
1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the United States has been raped in their lifetime.[i]
Almost half of female (46.7%) and male (44.9%) victims of rape in the United States were raped by an acquaintance. Of these, 45.4% of female rape victims and 29% of male rape victims were raped by an intimate partner.[i]
Stalking
19.3 million women and 5.1 million men in the United States have been stalked in their lifetime. 60.8% of female stalking victims and 43.5% men reported being stalked by a current or former intimate partner.[i]
[i]https://www.ncadv.org/statistics
Homicide
A study of intimate partner homicides found that 20% of victims were not the intimate partners themselves, but family members, friends, neighbors, persons who intervened, law enforcement responders, or bystanders.[i]
72% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner; 94% of the victims of these murder suicides are female.[i]
Children & Domestic Violence
1 in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to this violence.[i]
Teenagers
In a nationwide survey, 9.4% of high school students report being hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend in the 12 months prior to the survey.[i]
About 1 in 5 women and nearly 1 in 7 men who ever experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner, first experienced some form of partner violence between 11 and 17 years of age.[ii]
More than a quarter of male victims of completed rape (28%) were first raped when they were 10 years old or younger (by any perpetrator).[iii]
About 35% of women who were raped as minors also were raped as adults compared to 14% of women without an early rape history.[iv]
Most female victims of completed rape (79.6%) experienced their first rape before the age of 25; 42.2% experienced their first completed rape before the age of 18 years.[v]
One in 10 high school students has experienced physical violence from a dating partner in the past year.[vi]
Most female and male victims of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner (69% of female victims, 53% of male victims) experienced some form of intimate partner violence for the first time before 25 years of age.[vii]
43% of dating college women report experiencing violent and abusive dating behaviors including physical, sexual, tech, verbal or controlling abuse.[vii]
Nearly 1 in 3 (29%) college women say they have been in an abusive dating relationship.[ix]
52% of college women report knowing a friend who has experienced violent and abusive dating behaviors including physical, sexual, tech, verbal or controlling abuse.[x]
More than half (57%) of college students who report experiencing dating violence and abuse said it occurred in college.[xi]
58% of college students say they don’t know what to do to help someone who is a victim of dating abuse.[xii]
38% of college students say they don’t know how to get help for themselves if they were a victim of dating abuse.[xiii]
More than half of all college students (57%) say it is difficult to identify dating abuse.[xiv]
1 in 3 (36%) dating college students has given a dating partner their computer, email, or social network passwords and these students are more likely to experience digital dating abuse.[xv]
1 in 5 college women has been verbally abused by a dating partner.[xvi]
1 in 6 (16%) college women has been sexually abused in a dating relationship.[xvii]
1 in 4 dating teens is abused or harassed online or through texts by their partners.[xvii]
Victims of digital abuse and harassment are 2 times as likely to be physically abused, 2.5 times as likely to be psychologically abused, and 5 times as likely to be sexually coerced.[xix]
Nearly 1 in 10 teens in relationships report to having a partner tamper with their social networking account (the most frequent form of harassment or abuse).[xx]
Only 1 in 5 victims say they experienced digital abuse or harassment at school and during school hours (most takes place away from school grounds).[xxi]
About 84% of victims are psychologically abused by their partners, half are physically abused, and one-third experiences sexual coercion.[xxii]
Only 4% experience digital abuse and harassment alone. So social media, texts, and e-mails don’t seem to invite new abuse, they just provide abusive partners with a new tool.[xxiii]
[i] http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/teen_dating_violence.html
[ii] [vi] http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/datingmatters_flyer_2012-a.pdf
[iii-vii] http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/cdc_nisvs_overview_insert_final-a.pdf
[viii-xvii] https://www.loveisrespect.org/pdf/College_Dating_And_Abuse_Final_Study.pdf
[xviii-xxiii] http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412750-teen-dating-abuse.pdf
Economic Impact
Victims of intimate partner violence lose a total of 8.0 million days of paid work each year.[i]
The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $8.3 billion per year.[i]
Between 21-60% of victims of intimate partner violence lose their jobs due to reasons stemming from the abuse.[i]
Between 2003 and 2008, 142 women were murdered in their workplace by their abuser, 78% of women killed in the workplace during this timeframe.[i]
Physical/Mental Impact
Women abused by their intimate partners are more vulnerable to contracting HIV or other STI’s due to forced intercourse or prolonged exposure to stress.[i]
Studies suggest that there is a relationship between intimate partner violence and depression and suicidal behavior.[i]
Physical, mental, and sexual and reproductive health effects have been linked with intimate partner violence including adolescent pregnancy, unintended pregnancy in general, miscarriage, stillbirth, intrauterine hemorrhage, nutritional deficiency, abdominal pain and other gastrointestinal problems, neurological disorders, chronic pain, disability, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as noncommunicable diseases such as hypertension, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Victims of domestic violence are also at higher risk for developing addictions to alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.[i]