Prevalence and correlates of fearing a partner during the COVID-19 pandemic in Britain: findings from Natsal-COVID

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions introduced personal and relationship stressors that potentially increased the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) for some. We estimated the population prevalence and correlates of fearing a partner in the first year of the pandemic in Bri...

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Authors: Willis, Malachi (Author) ; Tanton, Clare (Author) ; Conolly, Anne (Author) ; Baxter, Andrew J. (Author) ; Bosó Pérez, Raquel (Author) ; Riddell, Julie (Author) ; Dema, Emily (Author) ; Copas, Andrew J. (Author) ; Macdowall, Wendy (Author) ; Bonell, Chris (Author) ; Mercer, Catherine H. (Author) ; Sonnenberg, Pam (Author) ; Field, Nigel (Author) ; Mitchell, Kirstin R. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2025
In: Journal of family violence
Year: 2025, Volume: 40, Issue: 4, Pages: 649-661
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Keywords:
Covid-19
Cross-sectional survey
Domestic abuse
Fearing partner
Intimate Partner Violence
Pandemic
Description
Summary:Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions introduced personal and relationship stressors that potentially increased the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) for some. We estimated the population prevalence and correlates of fearing a partner in the first year of the pandemic in Britain. Method: We used data from Natsal-COVID Wave 2—a web-panel survey undertaken one year after the initial British lockdown from 23 March 2020. Quotas and weighting were used to achieve a quasi-representative sample of the general population. Participants were asked about fearing a partner, which is a simple and valid screening tool to identify IPV experiences. Results: In our sample (unweighted n = 6302, aged 18-59), 9.0% of women and 8.7% of men reported fearing a partner in the first year of the pandemic. Women (73.3%) were more likely than men (49.9%) to indicate that fearing a partner made them feel anxious or depressed; men were more likely to report increased substance use (30.8% vs. 18.4%) and affected work/studies (30.0% vs. 20.0%). For both women and men, fearing a partner during the first year of the pandemic was associated with established health and wellbeing outcomes like anxiety/depression, alcohol use, accessing sexual/reproductive health services, and relationship dissolution as well as feeling that the "pandemic made things worse" across various life domains. Conclusions: Population-level estimates of IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight harmful experiences that occurred alongside other wide-ranging hardships, and the associations presented identify key populations with potential ongoing need. We make recommendations for primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of IPV.
Item Description:Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 660-661
Physical Description:Illustration
ISSN:1573-2851
DOI:10.1007/s10896-023-00665-w