Intimate Partner Violence in Couples Seeking Relationship Education for the Transition to Parenthood

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent and common problem yet is rarely screened for, or addressed in, couple relationship education (CRE). The current study examined the prevalence of IPV in 250 couples expecting their first child who were recruited into a study of CRE across the transition to parenthood. The couples were generally highly satisfied with their relationship, yet 32% reported at least one incident of IPV in the past 12 months, and 7% reported that at least one spouse had been injured by IPV. The majority of violence was of low severity (pushing, slapping, or shoving), and the most common pattern was of reciprocal aggression between the partners. Given that even low-severity IPV is associated with significant risk of inury and predicts risk of relationship separation, these high rates of IPV are concerning. CRE providers for expectant couples need to attend to prevention of IPV within their programs.

KEYWORDS:

• intimate partner violence
• couple and relationship education
• transition to parenthood

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant entitled Promoting a Positive Transition to Parenthood from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia to W. Kim Halford and Debra K. Creedy.