In and Out of Harm's Way: Intimate Partner Violence among Women over the Life Course

The objective of this study is to map out violent victimization within and between women's adult intimate relationships, as well as identify risk factors for various patterns of victimization and the proximal antecedents of violent interactions between partners. Two sources will be used. The first is the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS), a nationally representative sample of women. The second is data collected from women incarcerated at the Plymouth jail, located in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Analysis will unfold in two steps. First, latent class analysis will be applied to data from the NVAWS to explore whether and how violence is patterned within women's intimate relationships. Characteristics of and risk factors for different patterns of violence will be identified using multinomial logistic regression analyses. Second, data from the Minnesota sample will be used for a more detailed examination of the antecedents and dynamics of intimate partner violence. Using event structure analysis, the causal structure of violent interactions, including necessary and sufficient conditions for intimate partner violence both within and across relationships, will be defined.