Intimate partner violence among men : polyvictimization, polyperpetration and victim-perpetrator overlap

We examined men’s experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) and associated mental health problems. Specifically, we investigated men’s (poly)victimization, (poly)perpetration, and victim-perpetrator overlap experiences of physical, sexual, psychological, and cyber IPV, and associations with anxiety and depression. Data were collected via survey among a representative sample (n = 1587) in Ghent, Belgium. For this study, the sample consisted of 557 men in a romantic relationship. We found that all types of IPV experiences were significantly positively correlated, indicating the co-occurrence of different types of IPV, and of victimization and perpetration overlap. Indeed, among men who had experienced IPV, we found high prevalence rates of male polyvictimization, polyperpetration, and victim-perpetrator overlap. Also, with regard to mental health issues, polyvictims and/or polyperpetrators of multiple IPV types and victim-perpetrators of psychological and cyber IPV reported the highest levels of anxiety and depression compared to men who experienced one type of partner violence and/or were either victim or perpetrator instead of victim-perpetrator. Our findings indicate that partner violence research and practice should move beyond examinations of unidirectional IPV patterns by exploring reciprocal relationship dynamics. Further study implications as well as limitations will be discussed at the conference