The co-occurrence of intimate partner violence exposure with other victimizations: A nationally representative survey of Chilean adolescents.

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have found a high co-occurrence between Intimate Partner Violence exposure (IPVe) and other forms of victimization, such as physical and sexual abuse, yet little is known about this issue from community samples in Latin America or -in particular- Chile.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the prevalence, sociodemographic correlates and co-occurrence of IPVe with other youth victimizations in Chile.

PARTICIPANTS AND

SETTING

A secondary data analysis of the First Poly-victimization Survey in Children and Adolescents in Chile was conducted, which had 19,684 responses from 7th to 11th grade students attending publicly-funded, subsidized and independent schools in urban areas across the country.

METHODS

The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire was applied, and sociodemographic information was collected. Multiple logistic regression models were used.

RESULTS

The prevalence of lifetime IPVe was 13.0 % (95 % CI [12.4-13.6]), and 3.6 % (95 % CI [3.4-4.0]) for past-year IPVe. The factors that were positively associated with lifetime IPVe were: female, over 14 years old, indigenous ethnicity, with a disability, mother with immigrant status, living with only one parent, and attending publicly-funded and subsidized schools. Most of these associations were maintained for past-year IPVe. All victimizations studied were positively associated with lifetime and past-year IPVe. Poly-victimization, maltreatment and witnessing sibling abuse showed the strongest associations (adjusted OR > 4.0). Co-occurrence was particularly high among IPVe youth, especially for community violence (86.2 %) and any maltreatment (81.5 %) in lifetime reports.

CONCLUSIONS

An integrated approach to assessing IPVe and other forms of victimizations would enrich research and clinical practice, especially early detection of IPVe occurrences.