A qualitative study on how intimate partner violence against women changes, escalates, and persists from pre‐to postseparation

Abstract

<p>Research has focused on intimate partner violence (IPV) against women either before or after separation, but little attention has been paid to the changes in and persistence of violent behaviors from one situation to the next. This study contributes to the literature by comparing the changes in types and frequencies of abusive behaviors of women's former husbands. This allows us to understand how mechanisms of power are enacted through IPV both before and after separation. We interviewed 19 women in the Midwestern United States who had experienced IPV by their former husbands and had subsequently divorced them. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings suggest that verbal abuse and using children were the most common forms of IPV both pre- and postseparation. Many preseparation behaviors were replaced by other forms of abuse; for example, physical abuse was not experienced after separation. Some forms of IPV, such as stalking and economic abuse, escalated after separation. This reveals that exerting control over women through nonphysical forms of IPV was more common after separation. In particular, using axial and selective coding approach, our findings present three composite narratives of women's experiences of the changes in, and the escalation and persistence of, the violence they faced. The three composite narratives show how abusive behaviors are situated within patriarchal notions of dominance, power, and control over women and their children. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of healthcare services, advocacy-based victim assistance, school officials, and the courts.<br></p>