Survey Results: Intimate Partner Abuse
The prevalence of intimate partner abuse (including dating and domestic violence) decreased slightly across groups from 2015 to 2021. This decrease may be explained, in part, by the decrease in prevalence of physically abusive behaviors such as “Pushed, grabbed, or shook you” possibly due to social distancing and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2015 | 2021 | |||||
Intimate Partner Abuse | N | Freq | % | N | Freq | % |
Undergraduate Women | 5,519 | 785 | 14% | 4,237 | 530 | 13% |
Undergraduate Men | 4,821 | 348 | 7% | 3,399 | 174 | 5% |
Graduate Women | 1,168 | 98 | 8% | 1,506 | 90 | 6% |
Graduate Men | 1,428 | 71 | 5% | 1,537 | 42 | 3% |
As with the other forms of sexual misconduct, new behaviors for intimate partner abuse were added to the survey in 2021 that were not asked in 2015. Notably, for all groups of students in 2021, the most prevalent intimate partner abuse behaviors are among those newly added behaviors: “Manipulated you into doubting your memory, perception, or judgment (sometimes referred to as gaslighting)” and “Emotionally or verbally abused you.”
In contrast, the proportion of students indicating that their partner “Acted constantly jealous” decreased substantially from 2015 (where it was the most common form of abusive behavior); this suggests that behaviors classified as jealousy in 2015 were in fact better captured by gaslighting and emotional/verbal abuse in 2021.
The prevalence rates for the most common intimate partner abuse behaviors are presented below. Results are only displayed if there are at least 10 participants who reported a behavior.
Undergraduate Women | 2015 | 2021 |
Manipulated you into doubting your own memory, perception, or judgment (sometimes referred to as "gaslighting") | NA | 67% |
Emotionally or verbally abused you | NA | 55% |
Acted constantly jealous | 72% | 44% |
Scared you without laying a hand on you | 45% | 40% |
Threatened to hurt themselves | 33% | 27% |
Made decisions for you, such as where you go or what you wear or eat | NA | 22% |
Restricted your movement, held you down, blocked the door, took your keys or cell phone, or wouldn't allow you leave or make a call when you wanted to | 27% | 20% |
Pushed, grabbed, or shook you | 31% | 16% |
Did not allow you to see or talk with friends or family | NA | 16% |
Kept you from going to work or pursuing career or other life goals | NA | 15% |
Threatened to hurt you | 11% | 11% |
Tried to choke you or restrict your breathing | 10% | 11% |
Hit, slapped, or punched you with a fist or hard object | 10% | 8% |
Stole or destroyed your property, including pets | 10% | 8% |
Threw things at you | NA | 8% |
Pinched or twisted your fingers or arm | 8% | 5% |
Threatened to harm your pet(s), someone close to you, or a valued possession | 4% | 4% |
Threatened to "out" you at work or to others | NA | 4% |
Used a weapon against you or threatened to use a weapon | 3% | 3% |
Repeatedly punched, hit, kicked, grabbed, or threw you down | 2% | 3% |
Kicked you | 2% | 3% |
Bit or burned you | 3% | 2% |
Undergraduate Men | 2015 | 2021 |
Manipulated you into doubting your own memory, perception, or judgment (sometimes referred to as "gaslighting") | NA | 57% |
Emotionally or verbally abused you | NA | 49% |
Acted constantly jealous | 65% | 42% |
Threatened to hurt themselves | 34% | 31% |
Scared you without laying a hand on you | 14% | 21% |
Kept you from going to work or pursuing career or other life goals | NA | 19% |
Did not allow you to see or talk with friends or family | NA | 19% |
Made decisions for you, such as where you go or what you wear or eat | NA | 16% |
Hit, slapped, or punched you with a fist or hard object | 21% | 12% |
Restricted your movement, held you down, blocked the door, took your keys or cell phone, or wouldn't allow you leave or make a call when you wanted to | 11% | 11% |
Threw things at you | NA | 11% |
Pushed, grabbed, or shook you | 17% | 10% |
Stole or destroyed your property, including pets | 9% | 10% |
Threatened to "out" you at work or to others | NA | 9% |
Kicked you | 9% | 7% |
Threatened to hurt you | 8% | 7% |
Threatened to harm your pet(s), someone close to you, or a valued possession | 3% | 6% |
Repeatedly punched, hit, kicked, grabbed, or threw you down | 2% | 6% |
Pinched or twisted your fingers or arm | 10% | 5% |
Bit or burned you | 8% | 5% |
Tried to choke you or restrict your breathing | 7% | 3% |
Graduate Women | 2015 | 2021 |
Manipulated you into doubting your own memory, perception, or judgment (sometimes referred to as "gaslighting") | NA | 66% |
Emotionally or verbally abused you | NA | 58% |
Scared you without laying a hand on you | 59% | 42% |
Acted constantly jealous | 59% | 31% |
Threatened to hurt themselves | 30% | 21% |
Restricted your movement, held you down, blocked the door, took your keys or cell phone, or wouldn't allow you leave or make a call when you wanted to | 26% | 18% |
Made decisions for you, such as where you go or what you wear or eat | NA | 18% |
Pushed, grabbed, or shook you | 26% | 13% |
Threatened to hurt you | 17% | 12% |
Graduate Men | 2015 | 2021 |
Emotionally or verbally abused you | NA | 64% |
Manipulated you into doubting your own memory, perception, or judgment (sometimes referred to as "gaslighting") | NA | 48% |
Acted constantly jealous | 63% | 40% |
Threatened to hurt themselves | 37% | 26% |
In 2015, less than half of undergraduate women who reported experiencing intimate partner abuse indicated that the perpetrator was affiliated with (41%), however in 2021, that percentage increased to 52%.
A plurality of undergraduate men indicated the perpetrator of their abuse was affiliated with the university in both years (45% in 2015, 49% in 2021).
For both graduate women and men, most students reported that the perpetrator was not affiliated with the university in both survey administrations (women: 57% in 2015 and 71% in 2021, men: 59% in 2015 and 64% in 2021). As seen in other categories of sexual misconduct, the proportion of students indicating that they prefer not to answer if the abusive partner was affiliated with the university increased from 2015 to 2021, perhaps reflecting increased concerns about the privacy of personal information.