Gay Male Intimate Partner Violence: Prevalence Measures and a New Theoretical Model

Intimate partner violence is difficult to measure and assess in heterosexual couples given the high levels of social and personal stigma associated with being a victim of the violence. This issue is made more difficult when such violence occurs in gay male couples. Hidden even from their own community, gay victims of domestic violence struggle to receive help and treatment for their abuse. A major purpose of this paper is to highlight issues associated with intimate partner violence through a comprehensive literature review. A second purpose of this research is to obtain another indicator of the prevalence of gay male intimate partner violence. This was accomplished by constructing three scales of abuse types. In addition to providing researchers and other professionals with theoretical and health considerations about the intimate partner violence problem for gay men, it includes validation for these measures. Similar to interpersonal violence for heterosexual couples there were significant correlations among the three types of abuse experienced (physical, psychological and sexual). The thesis concludes with recommendations for future research and programs needed for this population