The Ecology of Intimate Partner Violence: Theorized Impacts on Women's Use of Violence

SUMMARY

The aim of this paper is to describe the multiple factors associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) using the social-ecological framework developed by Heise (1998). This framework is used to categorize research findings from multiple disciplines according to the level of social organization at which they operate. Evidence-based strategies are then reviewed according to the sphere of influence in the social ecological model, as well as their place on the prevention continuum. Along the way, possible effects on women's use of IPV, and battered women's use of violence in particular, will be noted.

KEYWORDS:

• Intimate partner violence
• ecological theory
• etiology
• public health
• prevention
• intervention
• gender
• race
• poverty
• measurement
• intervention