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Intimate partner violence (IPV) results in numerous negative physical and mental health consequences. Research shows that many factors affect survivors’ help-seeking decisions. Previous studies were limited by small samples, and by excluding multiple forms of IPV consequences and multiple types of help sources. This study attempted to fill this gap by using a nationally representative dataset that collected data on multiple consequences of violence and formal sources of help. This study used the National Crime Victimization Survey to examine factors for female survivors’ help-seeking (n = 474). The main variables were formal help-seeking (medical, legal), types of victimization and consequences, and demographics. All were examined through logistic regression analyses. Black/African American survivors sought more formal help than their White counterparts. Sexually victimized survivors used less legal help than those victimized by physical violence. These results suggest that survivors’ formal help-seeking should be viewed in a broad health context, including their experienced victimization, subsequent medical needs, and the circumstances and conditions underlying their decision to seek a particular type of help. Future research needs to examine the circumstances and outcomes of both formal and informal help-seeking by racial/ethnic minorities. Law enforcement officers may be able to collaborate with medical care systems to ensure that survivors receive proper treatment. Future research is needed to better understand survivors’ help-seeking as navigating through complicated webs of their experienced victimization, subsequent medical needs, and the circumstances and conditions underlying their decision to seek which type of help.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization, and three adulthood health outcomes—perceived physical and mental health and depression—among college students. We analyzed the direct effects of a subset of ACEs including community violence, peer victimization, child abuse and neglect, exposure to domestic violence, and other physical and sexual victimization and a subset of IPV victimization including threats, physical, sexual, technological, and psychological violence on health, and the indirect effect of IPV victimization on the relationships between ACEs and health. We analyzed 3,535 college students from seven universities who reported information about major variables of interest. Results: Findings from structural equation modeling indicate that ACEs are positively associated with poorer perceived physical health (β = .37, p < .001), poorer mental health (β = .64, p < .001), and higher levels of depression (β = .40, p < .001). IPV victimization is positively associated with poorer perceived physical health (β = .36, p < .001), poorer mental health (β = .23, p < .001), and higher levels of depression (β = .16, p < .001). In addition, IPV victimization partially mediates the impacts of ACEs on perceived physical health (β = .06, p < .001), mental health (β = .28, p < .001), and depression (β = .10, p < .001). ACEs influenced adulthood health outcomes both physically and mentally via IPV victimization. This study suggests a life-course perspective and trauma-informed approach that incorporates the long-term effect of ACEs and IPV victimization on adulthood well-being.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has far-reaching health and social consequences, particularly for survivors experiencing polyvictimization—multiple forms of IPV such as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. This study examined help-seeking behaviors and the perceived helpfulness of formal support sources (police, medical professionals, and psychologists) among a nationally representative sample of 2387 IPV survivors drawn from the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) in the United States. Latent class analysis identified three distinct polyvictimization profiles: Coercive Control and Psychological Aggression (CCPA), Psychological and Physical Violence (PPV), and Multiple Violence (MV). Survivors’ patterns of formal help-seeking varied significantly by gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and type of victimization. Psychologists were the most commonly contacted and perceived as the most helpful overall, though disparities emerged. Female survivors and those with less severe victimization were more likely to rate support as helpful, whereas male and sexual/gender minority (SGM) survivors, particularly those facing severe or multiple forms of violence, were less likely to find formal sources helpful—especially law enforcement. These findings highlight the need for more inclusive, culturally competent, and trauma-informed services tailored to the diverse experiences of IPV survivors.

Purpose This study examines the relationships among adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization, and two types of adulthood help-seeking behaviors in adulthood—formal and informal. The effects of IPV on formal and informal help-seeking, and the effects of ACEs on IPV and formal and informal help-seeking were assessed. Method: The analytic sample of this study is 591 college students from seven universities in the U.S. and Canada who reported at least one type of ACE and IPV victimization. Results: Results from structural equation modeling show that ACEs were positively associated with IPV victimization. IPV victimization was positively associated with formal and informal help-seeking. ACEs were positively associated with formal but not informal help-seeking. Conclusions: These findings suggest that ACEs influence not only violent experiences in adulthood but also behaviors in relation to seeking help following victimization in adulthood.

This study applied Andersen’s model of health service use to help-seeking among collegiate dating violence (DV) victims, and examined factors for help-seeking. A total of 338 students from a Midwest public university were included in the sample. The study results showed many college students experience psychological, physical, sexual and technological violence; substance use is associated with DV; the type of violence experienced is associated with the type of help sources that victims will use; and victims seek help from informal sources more than formal sources. Implications for social work research, practice and policy are discussed.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) leaves victims with serious mental healthconsequences; some victims do not seek help even though they suffer from adverse mental health symptoms. Victims’ use of mental health services seems to be affected by sociocultural factors and their history of experiences with violence. This study used the collaborative psychiatric epidemiology surveys to examine the effects of cumulative violence on IPV victims’ mental health service use. The results showed that victims’ mental health needs were the most prominent predictor of their use of mental health services, and that cumulative violence exposure also predicted mental health service use.

A limited number of studies have been conducted on intimate partner violence (IPV) among Asian Americans. This study aims to fill this gap by examining risk factors for IPV and ethnic differences within Asian American subgroups. Logistic regression analyses were conducted, using data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS). This study found that while prevalence rates of IPV varied across ethnic groups, the differences disappeared when controlling for demographic, interpersonal, and sociocultural variables. The study findings also showed that risk for IPV was higher for US-born Asian Americans, and that perceived discrimination increased the risk.