Intimate partner violence and socioeconomic deprivation in England: findings from a national cross-sectional survey.

OBJECTIVES: We examined the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and its association with social deprivation in England. METHODS: We used multivariable logistic regression to investigate IPV correlates among 21 226 men and women aged 16 to 59 years in the 2008 nationally representative cross-sectional British Crime Survey. RESULTS: Lifetime IPV was reported by 23.8% of women and 11.5% of men. Physical IPV was reported by 16.8% and 7.0%, respectively; emotional-only IPV was reported by 5.8% and 4.2%, respectively. After adjustment for demographic confounders, lifetime physical IPV experienced by women was associated with social housing tenure (odds ratio [OR] = 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.0, 2.7), low household income (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.8, 2.7), poor educational attainment (OR = 1.2; 95% CI = 1.0, 1.5), low social class (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 0.3, 1.7), and living in a multiply deprived area (OR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.1, 1.7). Physical IPV experienced by men and emotional IPV experienced by either gender were generally not associated with deprivation factors. CONCLUSIONS: Physical and emotional IPV are very common among adults in England. Emotional IPV prevention policies may be appropriate across the social spectrum; those for physical IPV should be particularly accessible to disadvantaged women.