College Women’s Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence: Exploring Mental Health Issues

College women’s experiences with sexual and physical violence are so common that campus interventions are needed. To help guide these, we surveyed 339 college women and asked: (a) are college women’s experiences with different types of relational violence interrelated and (b) are there patterns of association between types of violence and mental health symptoms? Analyses showed that experiences with verbal aggression, and minor and major physical violence overlapped. Experiences of sexual assault and minor physical violence also co-occurred. Moreover, women who encountered verbal and physical, but not sexual violence, suffered from symptoms of hostility, anxiety, and depression; those who encountered sexual coercion displayed signs of depression. We explore the implications of these findings for those who work with college women