Intimate Partner Violence against Women: An Analysis of Victimization Trajectories

Lorenzo Belli , Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Jorge Rodríguez-Menés, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

This study maps latent life-course trajectories of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women using linked sentencing and protection-order records from Catalonia, Spain. The sample comprises about 7,000 men convicted of IPV (2010–2014) and about 4,000 women who obtained protection orders against those men; records track criminal and victimization histories through March 2019. We applied group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) in a data-driven way to identify distinct patterns of recorded victimization from adolescence into mid-life. Two reproducible trajectories emerged: a “moderate–decreasing” trajectory (earlier onset, modest peak, subsequent decline; onset about 25 years) and a “violent–increasing” trajectory (later onset, sharper escalation in violent episodes; onset about 33 years) in the main analysis. Mean age at first recorded victimization was about 35 years. The violent trajectory accumulates substantially higher counts of physical, psychological, and unspecified IPV and concentrates the most severe outcomes. Notably, both trajectories are interpretable as subtypes of coercive-controlling violence, suggesting heterogeneity within that category. Because our data derive from adjudicated cases, they likely represent the “tip of the iceberg.” Findings underscore the need for age-inclusive prevention and tailored interventions that account for divergent timing, severity, and power dynamics across women’s IPV trajectories.

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 Presented in Session 120. Domestic Violence, Protection and Legal Contexts of Family