An ecological model of intimate partner violence perpetration at different levels of severity

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health concern. This study proposed and tested an ecological model of both general and clinically significant (i.e., injurious or fear-evoking) IPV perpetration (IPV_Perp). Risk and promotive factors from multiple ecological levels of influence (i.e., individual, family, workplace, community) were hypothesized to be important in the prediction of IPVPerp. Although clinically significant IPV_Perp and general IPV_Perp were hypothesized to relate, specific risks for clinically significant IPV_Perp were hypothesized. U.S. Air Force active duty members and civilian spouses (N = 34,861 men; 24,331 women) from 82 sites worldwide completed the 2006 Community Assessment, an anonymous online survey assessing IPV_Perp along with a variety of potential risk and promotive factors. Final structural equation models for men and women, cross-validated in holdout samples, clearly supported the relevance of an ecological approach to IPV_Perp. Factors from all 4 levels were associated with both general IPV_Perp and clinically significant IPV_Perp, with relatively distal community and workplace factors operating via more proximal individual and family level variables (e.g., relationship satisfaction). The results suggest a variety of both established and novel potential targets for indirectly targeting general and clinically significant IPV_Perp by improving risk profiles at the individual, family, workplace, and community levels.