Male victims of intimate partner violence: Insights from twenty years of research

Male victims of intimate partner violence: Insights from twenty years of research Denise A. Hines, Ph.D., Enochs Endowed Professor of Social Work at the College of Public Health, George Mason University, explores the often-overlooked issue of male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Men’s victimization from intimate partner violence (IPV) has been documented since the first US population-based study in 1975. (1) A review of 246 studies (2011–2022) found that 11.8% of men experience physical IPV, compared to 14.6% of women. (2) Despite decades of evidence, there is limited recognition of male IPV victims. Global data confirm that men represent a substantial proportion of IPV victims. In the US, 47.3% of men report experiencing IPV in their lifetime, accounting for 46.9% of all IPV victims.(3) In Canada, 2.9% of men and 1.7% of women experienced IPV in their current relationships.(4) In New Zealand, nearly equal percentages of men (29.9%) and women (30.9%) reported lifetime IPV. (5) Australia (6) and the UK (7) report that roughly one-third of IPV victims are men. France and Portugal report that 25-28% of official IPV cases involve male victims. (8,9) In Africa, male victimization is also substantial; for example, 43.6% of IPV victims in Uganda (10) and 31% of victims in Sierra Leone (11) are men. In Asia, men represent one-third of IPV victims in Korea. (12)