Intimate partner violence (IPV) entails domestic violence by a former or current spouse or even a partner in a close relationship against his or her spouse. It may be in various forms which include but not limited to verbal abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse. According to World Health Organization (WHO), is any behavior in an intimate relationship which causes psychological, physical or sexual harm to the individuals in the relationship including sexual coercion, physical aggression and controlling actions (Shortt et al., 2016). The extreme forms of this violence are intimate terrorism, battering, coercive controlling violence, whereby one of the individuals is violent and controlling. , and it is the one with a high likelihood of requiring medical services and use of woman’s shelter (Shortt et al., 2016).

Men are less likely to report domestic violence which is perpetrated by their female partners. Nevertheless, the common intimate violence but less injurious is the situational couple violence done by both genders in almost equal measures (Caetano et al., 2017). It is commonly found in young couples especially adolescents and those in college level. Another form of violence is the mutual violent control whereby both partners engage in violent and controlling behavior. Intimate partner violence occurs between individuals in a close relationship. The partners can either be homosexual or heterosexual couples, and the victims can either be female or male. The couples may either be cohabiting, dating, or married and the violence may occur in or outside their homes.

According to Caetano et al., (2017), thirty percent of women aged fifteen years and above have experienced physical or intimate partner sexual violence. According to WHO, controlling behaviors also is a form of abuse. Counselors play a vital role in ensuring that most of the violence is resolved amicably between the couples.

References.

Caetano, R., Schafer, J., & Cunradi, C. B. (2017). Alcohol-related intimate partner violence among white, black, and Hispanic couples in the United States. Domestic violence: The   five big questions.

Shortt, J. W., Low, S., Capaldi, D. M., Eddy, J. M., & Tiberio, S. S. (2016). Predicting intimate   partner violence for at-risk young adults and their romantic partners. Oregon Social           Learning Center.