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

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

Prevalência de violência por parceiro íntimo em idosos e fatores associados: revisão sistemática

“…There was a higher concentration of studies in Europe 4,26,29,31,34,35 and the United States 21,25,27,29,31,37 ; Brazil only had two studies 10,22 . In 11 studies 10,23,25,28,29,[31][32][33]36,37 , respondents were men and women concomitantly, others included only women, and there were no studies with men alone.…”

“…Of the 19 papers selected, 15 included in their samples adults and elderly 4,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] and four only elderly 10,[35][36][37] . Five studies 4,24,25,29,33 stratified the prevalence by age group, thus identifying IPV among the elderly.…”

“…Five studies 4,24,25,29,33 stratified the prevalence by age group, thus identifying IPV among the elderly. In the others, prevalence was shown for the general sample of the study, in which the elderly were included.…”

“…Papers included were published between 2004 and 2015, more frequently in the period 2012-2015 4,10,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] ; surveys between 2004 and 2010 [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][32][33][34]36 predominated. There was a higher concentration of studies in Europe 4,26,29,31,34,35 and the United States 21,25,27,29,31,37 ; Brazil only had two studies 10,22 .…”

“…Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes any behavior that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those who are part of the intimate relationship. They include acts of physical assault, psychological abuse, controlling behavior 3 and economic abuse 4 . In the context of elder violence, that which has been committed by an intimate partner has been less investigated, and, when addressed, is considered less severe than when applied to young women 5,6 .…”