Intimate partner violence in the young cohort of the Australian longitudinal study on women's health: urban/rural comparison and demographic associations

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is known to be linked to significant negative physical and mental health outcomes. This study addresses a gap in the Australian IPV literature by investigating lifetime IPV prevalence by rurality of residence, using data from a population-based sample of young women. The overall lifetime IPV prevalence rate in the sample was 21.6%, but there were significant differences in IPV rates from major cities (19.6%), inner regional areas (24.4%) and other rural areas (26.1%). After adjusting for demographic variables, multivariable analysis revealed that there were still significantly raised odds of women from inner regional (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.01–1.33) and other rural areas (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.11–1.56) reporting lifetime IPV compared to women from major cities. Multivariable analysis also showed that a history of IPV was significantly associated with women being separated/divorced/widowed, having lower levels of education, income hardship and limited available social support.