Relationships between Intimate Partner Violence and Alaskan Women's Health

Abstract

This report details a sample of Alaskan women's experiences with psychological, physical, and sexual harm by an intimate partner, and the relationships between those experiences and their current physical and mental health. These analyses of Alaska Victimization Survey (AVS) data are comprised of almost 13,000 survey responses from adult, non-institutionalized Alaskan women. The findings confirm those of prior, non-Alaska based research that all types of historical and recent intimate partner violence (IPV) are linked to victims’ current physical and mental health. Non-physical IPV has the same negative relationships with various health status indicators as physical IPV: Control, threats, and psychological aggression are generally associated with the same prevalence of negative health outcomes as physical violence, although sexual violence is associated with the highest prevalence of negative health outcomes.