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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Contraception. 2015 Feb 21;91(6):438–455. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2015.02.009

Table 1.

Studies focused on the relationship between IPV and reduced contraceptive use

Author, Year Study Design Study Sample Measures Primary Results Limitations
Quantitative Studies
Bogart, et al., 2005 Cross-sectional; secondary analysis 726 sexually-active individuals in three gender/orientation groups (286 women, 148 heterosexual men, and 292 gay/bisexual men)/HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study

  • Not identified.

  • Abuse perpetration and victimization were significantly associated with having any unprotected intercourse.

  • Respondents who had been abused were more likely than those who had not to report engaging in any unprotected intercourse (Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.52, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.85–3.43, p < .001).

 Unable to infer causality; and potential self-reporting bias
Cavanaugh, et al., 2013 Cross-sectional; secondary analysis 555 Latina women who were currently seeking or receiving services for a recent incident of physical abuse or threatening behavior by an intimate partner were recruited in one major city on the East Coast and one West Coast county/Risk Assessment Validation (RAVE) Study

  • Conflict Tactics Scales-2

  • Recent intimate partner violence (IPV) was reported by 38% of the sample. Among those reporting recent IPV, multiple assaults were common: 51% were made to have unprotected sex 6 or more times during the past 6 months.

  • IPV was significantly associated with nativity. Physically abused Latinas who were foreign born had two times greater odds of reporting recent IPV than physically abused Latinas born in the USA.

 Cultural implications for generalizability
Fair, et al., 2011 Cross-sectional; survey 148 undergraduate college students from southeast United States recruited via email rosters

  • Conflict Tactics Scales-2

  • 31.7% reported being victims of sexual coercion, and 78% reported having verbally aggressive partners.

  • Participants who reported experiencing sexual coercion in their relationship were significantly less likely to consistently use condoms (p<0.02).

  • Alcohol use before or during episodes of verbal aggression was negatively associated with condom use.

  • Alcohol use was significantly associated with heightened incidents of coercion and aggression.

 Low response rate to the survey (small sample size); few male participants; unknown sexual orientation of participants
Gielen, et al., 2002 Cross-sectional; survey 445 women (188 HIV+ and 257 HIV−) in intimate relationships, living in low-income, urban neighborhoods in Baltimore

  • Conflict Tactics Scales

  • 62% reported experiencing psychologic al, physical, and/or sexual abuse; 44% experienced frequent abuse (≥13 events); and 29% suffered an injury. Rates did not differ by women’s HIV status.

  • Women who experienced frequent abuse were significantly less likely to have used condoms with their intimate partner (OR = 0.60).

  • Partner characteristics significantly associated with experiencing frequent abuse were HIV status and substance use.

 Potential for self-report bias and inaccurate reporting about partners’ behaviors
Hess, et al., 2012 Cross-sectional; secondary analysis 3548 women (18–28 years) who reported on a sexual relationship that occurred in the previous 3 months/Wave 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

  • Conflict Tactics Scales

  • IPV prevalence over the past year was 32%—3% victim-only, 12% perpetrator-only, and 17% reciprocal.

  • In multivariate analysis, victim-only and reciprocal IPV were associated with not reporting condom use at last vaginal intercourse (26% vs. 32%, p <0.05).

 Potential for social desirability bias; no context about violence (i.e., who initiated it)
Mittal, et al., 2011 Cross-sectional; ACASI survey 717 women (18+ years) were recruited from a public STD clinic in upstate New York as part of a randomized controlled trial

  • Self-developed.

  • 18% reported IPV in the past 3 months and 57% reported lifetime experience of IPV.

  • Recent IPV was associated with greater sexual risk, as measured by more episodes of unprotected sex with a steady sex partner (p < 0.001, OR = 2.18).

 Measures used to assess IPV were brief; more detailed measures might have better assessed the construct of partner violence; potential for under-reporting
Mittal, et al., 2012 Cross-sectional; ACASI survey 717 women (18+ years) from a public STD clinic in upstate New York as part of a randomized controlled trial

  • Self-developed.

  • 18% reported IPV by a sexual partner in the past 3 months, 28% in the past year, and 57% lifetime.

  • Women who experienced IPV in the last 3 months reported more episodes of unprotected sex (F(1,695) = 13.64, p<.001) and more episodes of unprotected sex with a steady partner in the past 3 months (F(1,546) = 10.80, p <.01).

 Low power (due to moderate sample size) to detect effects of multi-group comparisons
Panchanadeswaran, et al., 2008 Cross-sectional; survey 244 heterosexual drug-using women from venue-based sampling of 38 New York City neighborhoods

  • Conflict Tactics Scales-2

  • Women who experienced IPV in the past year had lower scores on condom use expectancies and decision-making compared to those who did not (p < .05).

  • Women who experienced IPV in the past year reported a lower proportion of condom use compared to those who did not experience recent IPV (p < .05).

 Non-random sample; self-reporting biases
Roberts, et al., 2005 Cross-sectional; secondary analysis 973 sexually active, dating female adolescents/Wave II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

  • Conflict Tactics Scales

  • Current involvement in a verbally abusive relationship was associated with not using a condom during the most recent intercourse (OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.02–2.40).

  • A history of involvement and current involvement in a physically abusive relationship were associated with a history of pregnancy (OR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.47–4.17; and OR, 3.57; 95% CI, 1.85–6.67, respectively).

 Narrow definition of abuse; reliability of responses; unable to assess causality
Scribano, et al., 2012 Longitudinal ; Prospective analysis 10,855 participants were included in this study over the time period of 2002–2005 were identified using the Nurse Family Partnership Program Computerized Information System

  • Abuse Assessment Screen

  • IPV in the 12 months prior to pregnancy and at enrollment was 8.1% (95% CI: 5.8–11.2%).

  • 12.4% (8.5–17.6%) of women reported IPV in the 12 months following delivery.

  • In longitudinal follow-up, reduced use of contraception following the birth of the infant and rapid repeat pregnancy were significantly associated with IPV exposure.

 Physical IPV was the only form of violence under study in the present investigation.
Silverman, et al., 2011 Cross-sectional; survey 356 females (14–20 years) who attended adolescent health clinics in Greater Boston

  • Conflict Tactics Scales-2

  • 45% of the sample had experienced IPV.

  • Adolescents reporting IPV were more likely than others to report standard sexual risk behaviors—multiple partners, anal sex and unprotected anal sex (odds ratios, 1.7–2.2).

  • Adolescents reporting IPV were more likely to report coercive or deceptive sexual risk factors—coerced condom nonuse (OR = 4.9).

 Generalizability is limited; potential self-reporting bias; inability to determine the temporality of sexual risk behaviors versus occurrence of IPV (causality)
Stockman, et al., 2012 Cross-sectional; ACASI survey; case control analysis 668 Black women (18–55 years) from women’s health clinics in Baltimore, MD, USA and St. Thomas and St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

  • Abuse Assessment Screen

  • Severity Violence Against Women Scales

  • In Baltimore, factors independently associated with recent IPV were lifetime casual sex partners (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR): 1.99, 95% CI: 1.11–3.57), exchange sex partners (AOR: 5.26, 95% CI: 1.92–14.42), infrequent condom use during vaginal sex (AOR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.08–0.72), and infrequent condom use during anal sex (AOR: 0.29, 95% CI: 0.09–0.93).

 Question structure limited response options; causality could not be assessed; and limited understanding of the context of sexual risk behaviors
Teitelman, et al., 2008 Cross-sectional; secondary analysis 2,058 sexually active young adult women/ waves II and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

  • Conflict Tactics Scales

  • Physical and verbal abuse experienced in adolescence were associated with physical/verbal abuse experienced in young adulthood.

  • Young, sexually active women experiencing no abuse in their relationships were 66% more likely to consistently use condoms in the past 12 months than were their abused counterparts (95% CI = 1.26–2.20).

 Unable to distinguish the impact of recent abuse versus current abuse in partner relationships, therefore, did not know if nonuse or inconsistent use of condoms in the past year was potentially related to abuse from the same sexual partner or from a different or previous relationship.
Tucker, et al., 2004 Prospective analysis 898 women (460 sampled from shelters, 438 sampled from low-income housing) from central region of LA Country

  • Conflict Tactics Scales

  • Partner violence at baseline was associated with less sexual activity and unprotected sex at follow-up (OR = 0.33).

  • Non-partner violence at baseline was associated with a higher likelihood of being sexually active at follow-up (housed women), but less frequent sexual activity.

  • Drinking to intoxication at baseline was associated with less ability to refuse unwanted sex (sheltered women) and higher perceived susceptibility to HIV at follow-up, whereas baseline drug use was associated with greater perceived ability to refuse unwanted sex and condom use self-efficacy.

 Less-than-optimal internal reliability for measures
Williams, et al., 2008 Cross-sectional; case control analysis 225 women from clinics in the Boston area, 115 abused women and 110 control women

  • Conflict Tactics Scale-2

  • Women experiencing physical and emotional abuse were more likely to report not using their preferred method of contraception in the past 12 months compared with non-abused women (OR = 1.9; 95% CI = 1.0 to 3.7).

 Small sample size and low power to make comparisons; inability to determine causal direction