While IPV is a recognised risk factor for psychiatric disorders, there had previously been little evidence on IPV and self-harm and suicidality. Led by the Violence and Society Centre at City, University of London, in collaboration with the universities of Bristol, Manchester, Leicester and University College London, the study was an analysis of results from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) conducted face to face with over 7,000 adults, in 2014/5.
The study found that 27% of women and 15% of men had experienced IPV at some point in their life, confirming that women are far more likely than men to experience violence from a partner. People with experience of IPV were more likely to live in more deprived neighbourhoods and to have also experienced many other adversities in their lives. However, the associations between IPV and self-harm and suicidality remained strong even when these other factors were adjusted for.
Paper: 'Intimate partner violence, suicidality, and self-harm: a probability sample survey of the general population in England' by Sally McManus, Sylvia Walby, Estela Capelas Barbosa, Louis Appleby, Traolach Brugha, Paul E Bebbington, Elizabeth A Cook, Duleeka Knipe in The Lancet Psychiatry [open access]