Alison Marganski
Associate Professor & Director of Criminology, Le Moyne College
Key Findings
- IPV is common and is rarely limited to a single event.
- Nearly 71% of women reported experiencing some form of IPV.
- Nearly 39% of women reported that their current partners were the perpetrators of IPV.
- Fifty percent of women were targets of psychological IPV and nearly 84% were repeat victims.
- Of the women experiencing physical IPV (about 16.6%), about 67.4% were repeat victims.
- Nearly 17% of women experienced sexual IPV with nearly 64% being repeat survivors.
- Of the 67.2% of women experiencing technology-facilitated IPV, 93.8% were repeat victims.
- Half of the women sampled experienced two or more forms of IPV, or polyvictimization.
- Social network relationships played a significant role for individuals experiencing psychological and technology-facilitated IPV while family connectedness was significant for individuals experiencing physical and sexual IPV.
- Increased social network relationships decreased the risk of psychological and technology-facilitated IPV victimization.
- Increased family connectedness decreased the risk of repeated physical IPV victimization and sexual IPV victimization.
Description
In the article, “Single, Repeat, and Poly Intimate Partner Violence Victimization among Women at a College Campus: Extending Research Through the Inclusion of Technology-Facilitated Violence and Examining Key Social Determinants for Intimate Partner Violence Prevention,” Marganski and her coauthors examine precursors to technology-facilitated and in-person intimate partner violence (IPV) among women on college campuses along with factors that protect against IPV. To conduct their study, the researchers analyzed 265 results from an online survey administered to undergraduate students who opted-in the study and met the parameters of being a woman and in an intimate relationship in the past year. In addition to determining questions on types of IPV, the survey also sought information on the participants’ social network, relationships, family connectedness, sexual attitudes, as well drinking and drug behavior. The results of the survey indicated that IPV is common and is rarely limited to a single event. Nearly 71% of women reported experiencing some form of IPV and nearly 39% of women reported that their current partners were the perpetrators of IPV. In the past year, 50% of women were targets of psychological IPV and nearly 84% were repeat victims. Of the women experiencing physical IPV (about 16.6%), about 67.4% were repeat victims. Nearly 17% of women experienced sexual IPV with nearly 64% being repeat survivors. Of the 67.2% of women experiencing technology-facilitated IPV, 93.8% were repeat victims. Half of the women sampled experienced two or more forms of IPV, or polyvictimization. Social network relationship support played a significant role for individuals experiencing psychological and technology-facilitated IPV while family connectedness was significant for individuals experiencing physical and sexual IPV. Repeat victims of psychological and technology-facilitated IPV reported less social network relationship support than individuals who reported no IPV. Repeat victims of physical and sexual IPV reported less family connectedness than individuals who reported no IPV or no sexual IPV. Increased social network relationships decreased the risk of psychological and technology-facilitated IPV victimization. Increased family connectedness decreased the risk of repeated physical IPV victimization and sexual IPV victimization. This research supports previous studies indicating that IPV is not isolated and that there is extensive polyvictimization on college campuses. Though this study was unable to explore the digital networks that technology-facilitated IPV utilized and didn’t account for modern digital behaviors, authors recommend future research to do so and build on finding protective factors against IPV in different settings.