Intimate+Partner+Abuse

= = = Definition: = Physical acts or other behavior intended to intimidate or harm an intimate partner. HGD, Chapter 13, page 344-345 Related Pages: Part of Abuse Includes Domestic Abuse, Most Common in Adults, Confused with Sexual Abuse. Part of: Intimate Relationships Related to: aggression, hostile aggression, Child Abuse,Self-Esteem

= Examples: =

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= Analogies: = Being an abuser or allowing abuse is like digging your own grave; it can eventually lead to death.

= Mnemonics: =
 * A**LLOWING **Abhor**
 * B**EATINGS **Beatings**
 * U**SUALLY **Until**
 * S**UBSIDES/SURPRISES **Safely**
 * E**MOTIONS/EVERYONE **Escaping**

=In the News:= =‍‍‍UA News‍‍ ‍=

Coercive Habits Lead to Intimate Partner Abuse
[|UA News Link]

The team defined coercive controlling violence as a pattern of control and manipulation used by men and women in relationships. The team also noted that coercive control is manifested in the form of ‍‍‍surveillance, punishment, intimidation, isolation, assault, and verbal threats ‍‍‍.

UA doctoral student Marieh Tanha and her team wanted to understand why certain women and men exhibit coercive behaviors while others don't. The team found that women and men have "similar patterns of abuse tactics as instrumentalities of coercive control, even though the sexes differ systematically in the raw frequencies of their use of certain specific tactics." (Photo by Beatriz Verdugo / UANews)

The UA-led research team noted in a newly published article that intimate partner violence is a "complicated phenomenon that cannot simply be narrowed to one form of abuse and claimed to be overwhelmingly initiated by one particular sex." By La Monica Everett-Haynes, University Communications, December 8, 2010 ===A team of psychologists led by UA doctoral student Marieh Tanha has found that while men are more likely to be aggressors in relationships, coercive control by men or women can often lead to abuse and violence.=== Coercive and controlling behavior in relationships in which one partner checks the other's calls and texts or tries to direct what he or she wears might be part of a broader pattern that could lead to other forms of abuse and violence. This is one of the findings out of a project University of Arizona doctoral student Marieh Tanha completed to understand how men and women act in abusive partnerships. One of the most telling findings, the team found – regardless of gender – was that coercive control appears to be the key motivator that leads to abusive behavior. "Sex differences in partner violence is a hot topic, but a lot of people will leave it at 'Men are more violent' and that's it," said Tanha, a student in the UA's **psychology, policy and law program**. Tanha is lead author on a recently published article on the team's study, which contains interesting findings related to the role of coercive and controlling behaviors along with some gender-based nuances relative to partner abuse. The co-authored article, "**Sex Differences in Intimate Partner Violence and the Use of Coercive Control as a Motivational Factor for Intimate Partner Violence**," was published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. It is one of the first published studies investigating both men and women partners on intimate partner abuse while attempting to measure coercive control independent of other forms of violence. As defined by the team, intimate partner abuse includes psychological abuse, sexual assault, intimidation, coercion, physical abuse, threats and escalated physical violence, said Figueredo, who was part of the 1990s-era research team that investigated and then designated these categories. When it comes to partner abuse cases, coercive control holds a particularly important and influential nature, Tanha said. "Gender doesn't matter when you hit that point," she said. "When it reaches the point that you want to coerce your partner, there is often also pattern of abuse behavior." Yet prevailing beliefs about partner violence are that women are rarely abusers and that, gender aside, the source of any intimate partner violence comes down to an anger management issue. "We now have a clearer picture," said Tanha, who completed the study as her master's thesis. During that time, Tanha had begun as a member of the UA **Psychology, Policy and Law Lab**, which is headed up by Connie J.A. Beck, an associate professor of **psychology**. **Beck** is another collaborator on Tanha's study, along with UA psychology professor **Aurelio José Figueredo**. Both Beck and Figueredo have long investigated a broad range of topics related to partnerships. The team also consulted with Chitra Raghavan, an assistant professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. For the current study, the team investigated the experiences of more than 760 heterosexual married couples actively involved in divorce proceedings. These couples were mandated by Arizona law to attend divorce mediation to resolve custody and parenting time disputes of their children. The data used for the assessment was part of Beck's longitudinal study of short- and long-term outcomes in divorcing couples with a history of intimate partner abuse. In recent years, Beck and her collaborators have begun to incorporate domestic violence logs from Tucson Police Department and Pima County Sheriff's Department in their studies. Most existing research has approached coercive control as an example of abuse, but the team sought to examine such control as a potential motivator for abuse. When coercive control led to abuse, it was performed in the service of controlling the partner as opposed to the sheer joy of physically beating the partner, Beck said. It is this need for control that can often lead to other forms of abuse, she added. While certain correlations exitThe researchers found no significant difference in the use of "lower-level" physical abuse, finding that husbands and wives will in equal numbers and frequency push and shove, Tanha said. Still, the study poses important implications for law enforcement agents, counselors, therapists, judges, researchers and others, she said. "This study tells us thfeelings," Tanha added, "but it may not help the couple when it really comes down to a control issue."

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="Advice & Tips"=

Get Out
Read more: [|Advice & Tips on Abusive Relationships | eHow.com] [|http://www.ehow.com/way_5305535_advice-tips-abusive-relationships.html#ixzz1qzJSrVCZ]  
 * For help you can talk to someone at the National Domestic Violence hotline or see their website []
 * See also []
 * When facing an abusive relationship, the best thing to do is to get out of the relationship. It takes a lot of strength to be able to leave an abusive situation because part of the abuse is that it instills fear in the victim. To leave, you will have to face your fear and seek help from outside sources such as law enforcement, family and friends. If you are the victim of abuse, make records and photographs of the abuse, if possible. Take these records to your local law enforcement as proof. Let your close family and friends know of your intentions and seek their assistance, including moral support and even temporary housing, as you get away from the abusive situation......