Survey Data Sets Pertinent to the Study of Intimate Partner Violence and Health

• NCJ Number: 215955
• Journal: Trauma, Violence, & Abuse Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 3-18
• Author(s): Jacquelyn C. Campbell; Sandra L. Martin; Kathryn E. Moracco; Jennifer A. Manganello; Rebecca J. Macy
• Date Published: January 2006
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reviews the strengths and weakness of existing datasets on intimate partner violence and health.

Abstract

Seven datasets are described that either focus on violence or on health: (1) the National Surveys of Family Violence; (2) the National Violence Against Women Survey; (3) the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; (4) the Commonwealth Fund Surveys of Women’s Health; (5) the National Health and Social Life Survey; (6) the National Health Interview Survey; and (7) the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Descriptions of each dataset include discussions of their goals, their samples, their data collection methods and content, and their strengths and limitations. For example, the National Surveys of Family Violence had the goal of providing a comprehensive national overview of different types of family violence as well as of the potential risk and protective factors. The telephone survey was administered to a random-digit-dial national household sample of families with cohabiting and separated/divorced couples and single parents. Strengths of this dataset include its review of various forms of violence while limitations of the dataset include its exclusion of high-risk groups without telephones. The selection criteria for datasets to be considered for this review included the requirements that they had to result from surveys that contained information: (1) about intimate partner violence against adult or adolescent women; (2) about the health of the women exposed to intimate partner violence; and (3) from either a nationally representative sample of U.S. women or large groups of U.S. women who were representative of particular subgroups. It was also required that the datasets be publicly accessible or available through contract. Researchers are encouraged to work together with those who fund, design, and implement large-scale surveys in order to design datasets that are valid, reliable, and offer standardized measures of all types of intimate partner violence. Table, references, suggested readings