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Cited by 122Intimate Partner and Family ViolenceElder Abuse and NeglectChild Abuse and Trauma

Intimate Partner Violence and Its Association With Physical and Mental Health Symptoms Among Older Women in Germany

Open access
Stöckl, Heidi, Penhale, Bridget·2015·Journal of Interpersonal Violence
DOI 10.1177/0886260514554427
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Abstract

Intimate partner violence is a commonly acknowledged health care issue. While numerous studies established the health implications of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence among women of reproductive age, the evidence is scarce for older women and for other forms of intimate partner violence. This study, therefore, investigates the prevalence of intimate partner violence in its different forms and its association with physical and mental health symptoms of older women, using women of reproductive age as a reference group. This study is a cross-sectional study, utilizing data from a national representative survey of 10,264 German women aged 16 to 86 years. Rates of physical and sexual intimate partner violence in the last year decreased from 8% to 3% and 1% among women aged 16 to 49 years, 50 to 65 years, and 66 to 86 years, respectively. The prevalence of emotional and economic abuse and controlling behavior by partners remained nearly the same. All forms of intimate partner violence had significant associations with women’s health symptoms, such as gastrointestinal, psychosomatic and psychological symptoms, and pelvic problems. Controlling behavior was most consistently associated with most health symptoms. Health and care professionals who screen women for intimate partner violence should, therefore, consider incorporating questions about controlling behavior as well, because this form of violence is not only frequent but also has multiple health outcomes among women across all ages.

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  • Women aged 66-86 had significantly greater odds of experiencing mild or strong psychological symptoms, whereas women aged 16-49 had greater odds of experiencing strong psychological problems.

    “Women between the ages of 66–86 had significantly greater odds of experiencing mild or strong psychological symptoms, whereas women between the ages of 16–49 had greater odds of experiencing strong psychological problems [43].”

    From Examining the impact of economic abuse on survivors of intimate partner violence: a scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [43]

    The Associations With Physical and Mental Health Symptoms section reports increased psychological problems in both age groups in association with specific forms of partner abuse. Table 4 reports significant odds ratios for mild and strong problems among women aged 66–86 and for strong problems among women aged 16–49. These are comparisons by abuse exposure within each age group, not evidence that either age group had greater odds than the other; the citing sentence omits that condition. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  • Women aged 16-49 experiencing economic abuse had greater odds of experiencing pelvic problems and difficulty keeping weight.

    “Women between the ages of 16–49 experiencing economic abuse had greater odds of experiencing pelvic problems and difficulty keeping weight.”

    From Examining the impact of economic abuse on survivors of intimate partner violence: a scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [43]

  • Women aged 50-65 experiencing economic abuse had greater odds of experiencing psychosomatic symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, allergies, and difficulty keeping weight.

    “Women between the ages of 50–65 had greater odds of experiencing psychosomatic symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, allergies, and difficulty keeping weight [43].”

    From Examining the impact of economic abuse on survivors of intimate partner violence: a scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [43]

  • Preliminary findings suggest that economic abuse is associated with some physical health impacts.

    “However, preliminary findings suggest that economic abuse is associated with some physical health impacts, which is also consistent with research on other forms of IPV [30, 43, 45, 46, 50, 51].”

    From Examining the impact of economic abuse on survivors of intimate partner violence: a scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [43]

  • While some studies looked at economic abuse among survivors later in life, the majority focused on individuals of reproductive age.

    “While some studies looked at economic abuse among survivors later in life [43, 51], the majority focused on individuals of reproductive age.”

    From Examining the impact of economic abuse on survivors of intimate partner violence: a scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [43]

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Authors
Stöckl, H., & Penhale, B.
Affiliations
  • London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
  • University of East Anglia (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2014-11-11
Volume
30
Issue
17
Pages
3089-3111
ISSN
  • 0886-2605 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-6518
DOI
10.1177/0886260514554427
OpenAlex
W2127210878
Cited by
122
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 3
FWCI
8.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Interpersonal Violence (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
  • UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Universität Bielefeld
  • Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Elder Abuse and Neglect
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
Keywords
intimate partner violence, older women, physical violence, sexual violence, emotional abuse, economic violence, controlling behavior, health symptoms, psychosomatic symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, prevalence, violence screening, Germany
MeSH terms
Intimate Partner Violence, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Germany, Humans, Middle Aged, Women's Health, Battered Women, Young Adult

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