Partner violence occurs in all types of intimate relationships including marriages, cohabitating and dating. Estimates are that one-quarter to one-third of US marriages involve at least one incident of physical assault. Annually domestic violence will result in serious injury to more than 3.4 million US women. Dating violence is as extensive as marital violence, and violence is at similar levels in gay and lesbian relationships (McHugh et al., 1993).

Until recently, it was generally assumed that women were the only victims of battering, and many people referred to marital or domestic violence as ‘wife battering’. Research has shown that, although women are more often injured by their partners, men can also be victims of violence from male partners and from their wives (Archer, 2000; Frieze, 2000). Because of this, researchers are beginning to use the term ‘intimate partner violence’ as a more neutral description (see Frieze, 2005). In the majority of cases of intimate partner violence, both partners use some level of violent behaviour toward the other. There are, however, different types of violent relationships, with some involving severe violence that is one-sided or mutual, and others involving only minor violence, either one-sided or mutual (Frieze, 2005; Williams & Frieze, 2005; McHugh & Bartoszek, 2000).

Intimate partner violence ranges from quite mild, involving actions such as slapping or shoving, with no resulting injury, to battering that can result in serious injury.