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90% of teenaged intimate partner homicide victims are female
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A recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics showed that adolescent females are disproportionately affected by intimate partner violence, or IPV.
Avanti Adhia, ScD, a senior fellow in the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center at the University of Washington, and colleagues wrote that homicide resulting from IPV has almost exclusively focused on adults.
“Physicians, especially pediatricians, can play a big role in identifying adolescents experiencing intimate partner violence by talking to them about healthy relationships and being able to refer them to appropriate services,” Adhia told Infectious Diseases in Children. “Adolescent patients can be asked about their relationships, and [you can] look for signs of mental health problems, problems in school or social problems that commonly result from IPV. Physicians should be prepared to respond appropriately and know about community-based resources that they can refer to if an adolescent discloses IPV to them.”
The researchers analyzed surveillance data gathered from the National Violent Death Reporting system. All data reported between 2003 and 2016 by 32 states that used the system for 1 year or longer were included in the analysis.
During the study period, they identified 8,048 homicides of victims aged 11 to 24 years who had a known relationship with the perpetrator, and 2,188 of these homicides were among adolescents aged 11 to 18 years. Nearly 7% of adolescent homicides were related to IPV (n = 150).
Adhia and colleagues found that 90% of adolescents who were victims of intimate partner homicide (IPH) were female. Their average age was 16.8 years.
Most perpetrators (77.9%) were aged 18 years and older (average age, 20.6 years), and 62.7% were currently intimate with the victim. The most common cause of injury to victims was firearms, especially handguns.
Compared with IPHs of young adults aged 19 to 24 years, perpetrators of adolescent IPHs were younger and less likely to be the victim’s current partner. Broken and desired relationships or jealousy were the most commonly reported reasons for homicide, followed by altercations that resulted in reckless firearm behavior and pregnancy.
“Routine office-based IPV screening for all women of childbearing age is recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, so making screening a regular part of doctor’s visits is critical,” Adhia said. “It is important to build trust with patients and for physicians to present themselves as compassionate and trustworthy so that patients feel comfortable disclosing IPV. They may want to have information readily available and visible in the office so patients know it is a safe place to talk about this issue. It’s also important to respect a patient’s confidentiality and not force a patient to disclose IPV if they are not ready or do not want to.” – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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