According to the World Health Organization (2012), intimate partner violence pertains to any behavior and action within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological, emotional, or sexual harm to those in the relationship. WHO also stated that the term domestic violence is used in many countries to refer to partner violence but the term can also encompass child or elder abuse, or abuse by any member of a household. Moreover, the term battering refers to a severe and escalating form of partner violence characterized by multiple forms of abuse, threats, and increasingly possessive and controlling behavior on the part of the abuser. Exposure to violence during childhood is also one of the most common factors for involvement in a violent intimate relationship (Gover, Kaukinen & Fox, 2008), and has also been linked to a range of adverse outcomes in …show more content…
Childhood exposure to intimate partner violence is also linked to higher levels of aggression and dating violence among adolescents (Tajima et al, 2010). Intimate partner violence is also common among emerging adults, and female child victims are more likely to revictimized in an abusive intimate partner relationship, while male child victims of abuse are more likely to commit intimate partner violence (Taft, Schumm, Marshall, Panuzio, & Holtzworth-Munroe, 2008). Female victims of child maltreatment are most likely to enter abusive relationships, and experience greater struggle of separating with their abusive partners compared to females who do not have this history. According to the results of a study conducted by Griffing, Ragin, Morrison, Sage, Madry, & Primm (2005), women who were victims of child maltreatment who frequently separate and reunite with their abusive partners because of the abuser’s expressions of remorse. Women with child maltreatment history have elevated risk of revictimization in in their abusive adult intimate relationship because of