DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02566.v1
title: Violence and Threats of Violence Against Women and Men in the United States, 1994-1996
title: Version 1

description: To further the understanding of violence against women, the
 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the National Center for Injury
 Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Centers for Disease Control and
 Prevention (CDC), jointly sponsored the National Violence Against
 Women (NVAW) Survey. To provide a context in which to place women's
 experiences, the NVAW Survey sampled both women and men. Completed
 interviews were obtained from 8,000 women and 8,005 men who were 18
 years of age or older residing in households throughout the United
 States. The female version of the survey was fielded from November
 1995 to May 1996. The male version of the survey was fielded during
 February to May 1996. Spanish versions of both the male and female
 surveys were fielded from April to May 1996. Respondents to the NVAW
 Survey were queried about (1) their general fear of violence and the
 ways in which they managed their fears, (2) emotional abuse they had
 experienced by marital and cohabitating partners, (3) physical assault
 they had experienced as children by adult caretakers, (4) physical
 assault they had experienced as adults by any type of perpetrator, (5)
 forcible rape or stalking they had experienced by any type of
 perpetrator, and (6) incidents of threatened violence they had
 experienced by any type of perpetrator. Respondents disclosing
 victimization were asked detailed questions about the characteristics
 and consequences of victimization as they experienced it, including
 injuries sustained and use of medical services. Incidents were
 recorded that had occurred at any time during the respondent's
 lifetime and also those that occurred within the 12 months prior to
 the interview. Data were gathered on both male-to-female and
 female-to-male intimate partner victimization as well as abuse by
 same-sex partners. Due to the sensitive nature of the survey, female
 respondents were interviewed by female interviewers. In order to test
 for possible bias caused by the gender of the interviewers when
 speaking to men, a split sample was used so that half of the male
 respondents had female interviewers and the other half had male
 interviewers. The questionnaires contained 14 sections, each covering
 a different topic, as follows. Section A: Respondents' fears of
 different types of violence, and behaviors they had adopted to
 accommodate those fears. Section B: Respondent demographics and
 household characteristics. Section C: The number of current and past
 marital and opposite-sex and same-sex cohabitating relationships of the
 respondent. Section D: Characteristics of the respondent's current
 relationship and the demographics and other characteristics of their
 spouse and/or partner. Section E: Power, control, and emotional abuse
 by each spouse or partner. Sections F through I: Screening for
 incidents of rape, physical assault, stalking, and threat
 victimization, respectively. Sections J through M: Detailed
 information on each incident of rape, physical assault, stalking, and
 threat victimization, respectively, reported by the respondent for
 each type of perpetrator identified in the victimization screening
 section. Section N: Violence in the respondent's current
 relationship, including steps taken because of violence in the
 relationship and whether the violent behavior had stopped. The section
 concluded with items to assess if the respondent had symptoms
 associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. Other variables in the
 data include interviewer gender, respondent gender, number of adult
 women and adult men in the household, number of different telephones
in the household, and region code.
description: To further the understanding of violence against
 women, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the National Center
 for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Centers for Disease Control
 and Prevention (CDC), jointly sponsored the National Violence Against
 Women (NVAW) Survey. When this survey was conceived, many gaps
 remained in the understanding of violence against women, despite the
 large amount of research on violence against women, particularly in
 the areas of rape and intimate partner violence. Empirical data on the
 relationship between certain types of violence against women, such as
 childhood victimization and subsequent adult victimization, were
 limited. Reliable information on minority women's experiences with
 violence and on the consequences of violence against women, including
 rates of injury and use of medical services, was also limited. To
 provide a context in which to place women's experiences, the NVAW
 Survey sampled both women and men. The survey was designed to
 accomplish the following goals: (1) to provide reliable estimates of
 the prevalence and incidence of various forms of violence against
 women, including rape, physical assault, and stalking, (2) to provide
 descriptive data on victims and perpetrators, including male-to-female
 and female-to-male intimate partners and victims of different racial
 and ethnic backgrounds, (3) to provide descriptive data on the
 physical, psychological, and social consequences of violent
 victimization, including injured victims' use of medical services, (4)
 to examine the links between threats of violence and actual
 occurrences of violence, (5) to examine the links between
 victimization, fear of violence, and coping strategies, (6) to examine
 how women respond to specific victimization, including their
 involvement in the criminal justice system, (7) to provide information
 on violence perpetrated on men and women by same-sex intimate
 partners, and (8) to provide comparable information on the experiences
 of men that would permit comparisons of the prevalence of violence and
 severity of injury suffered by women as opposed to men abused by
intimates.
description: The National Violence Against Women Survey was
 conducted by interviewers at Schulman, Ronca, Bucuvalas, Inc. (SRBI),
 a national survey research organization in New York City, under the
 direction of Dr. John Boyle. Survey design and data analysis were
 conducted by the principal investigators of this study. Following an
 extensive pre-test, completed interviews were obtained using a
 computer-assisted interviewing system from 8,000 women and 8,005 men
 who were 18 years of age or older residing in households throughout
 the United States. The female version of the survey was fielded during
 November 1995 to May 1996. The male version of the survey was fielded
 during February to May 1996. Spanish versions of both the male and
 female surveys were fielded during April to May 1996. Respondents to
 the NVAW Survey were queried about (1) their general fear of violence
 and the ways in which they managed their fears, (2) emotional abuse
 they had experienced by marital and cohabitating partners, (3)
 physical assault they had experienced as children by adult caretakers,
 (4) physical assault they had experienced as adults by any type of
 perpetrator, (5) forcible rape or stalking they had experienced by any
 type of perpetrator, and (6) incidents of threatened violence they had
 experienced by any type of perpetrator. Respondents disclosing
 victimization were asked detailed questions about the characteristics
 and consequences of their victimization, including injuries sustained
 and use of medical services. Incidents were recorded that had
 occurred at any time during the respondent's lifetime and also those
 that occurred within the 12 months prior to the interview. Both male
 and female respondents were queried about their experiences with
 emotional abuse, threats, and violence by same-sex intimate partners.
 Interviewers were trained to recognize and respond appropriately to
 cues indicating that the respondent may have been concerned about
 being overheard. Telephone numbers of local support services (e.g.,
 domestic violence shelters, rape crisis hotlines, child protective
 services) were offered to respondents who disclosed current abuse or
 who appeared in distress. Initial telephone contact with households
 was attempted during hours of the day and days of the week that had
 the greatest probability of respondent contact. Due to the sensitive
 nature of the survey, female respondents were interviewed by female
 interviewers. In order to test for possible bias caused by the gender
 of the interviewers when speaking to men, a split sample was used so
 that half of the male respondents had female interviewers and the
 other half had male interviewers. A Spanish-language translation was
 administered by bilingual interviewers for Spanish-speaking
respondents.
description: The questionnaires contained 14 sections, each
 covering a different topic. Section A of the survey asked respondents
 about their fear of violence and accommodation behavior. Variables
 from Section A include the respondent's overall assessment of whether
 personal safety for women had improved since the respondent was a
 child, or whether violent crime, domestic violence, sexual harassment,
 and sexual assault were more of a problem today. Respondents also
 indicated how concerned they were about their personal safety and
 about being stalked, whether they had ever been stalked and by whom,
 whether they carried something to defend themselves or to alert others
 and, if so, how often, and what they carried. Section B recorded
 respondent characteristics, including information on age, employment,
 medical coverage, education, race, number of adults and number of
 children living with the respondent, personal income, household
 income, and telephone service. Health-related variables include
 general assessment of health, whether the respondent had ever
 sustained a serious injury, had a chronic health condition, or had a
 chronic mental health condition and, if so, the ages at onset, and
 information on pregnancies, depression, alcohol use, and drug use.
 Section C recorded information on the number of the respondent's
 current and past marital and opposite-sex and same-sex cohabitating
 relationships. Section D recorded characteristics of the respondent's
 current relationship and current spouse/partner, including how long they had
 known each other, how long they lived together, and how long they were
 married, as well as the spouse/partner's age, employment, education,
 race, income, general health, and alcohol use. Section E obtained
 information on power, control, and emotional abuse by each spouse or
 partner. Specific variables include whether the spouse/partner had a
 hard time seeing things from the respondent's point of view, was
 jealous or possessive, provoked arguments, limited the respondent's
 contact with family or friends, insisted on knowing who the respondent
 was with at all times, called the respondent names, made the
 respondent feel inadequate, was frightened of the respondent, shouted
 or swore at the respondent, frightened the respondent, prevented the
 respondent from access to family income, prevented the respondent from
 working outside the home, or insisted on changing residences even when
 the respondent did not need or want to. Sections F through I screened
 for incidents of rape, physical assault, stalking, and threat
 victimization, respectively. Variables include screening questions
 specific to each type of victimization followed by variables
 identifying the relationship of each type of perpetrator to the
 respondent (current spouse, ex-spouse, male live-in partner, female
 live-in partner, other relative, acquaintance, or stranger), and then
 repeated to identify which spouse or partner (from current up to eight
 previous), specific relative, specific acquaintance
 (boyfriend/girlfriend/date, other men/boys, other women/girls, various
 other acquaintance categories), or male or female stranger. Sections J
 through M provide detailed information on each incident of rape,
 physical assault, stalking, and threat victimization, respectively,
 reported by the respondent. For each type of perpetrator identified in
 the victimization section, information is provided on the
 victimization, including number of times the victimization happened,
 if the incident occurred while the respondent was still in a
 relationship with the perpetrator, first and last time the incident
 happened, if the incident happened in the last 12 months, who was
 first to use force, drug or alcohol use at the time of the incident,
 resulting pregnancies, weapon use, injuries, medical, dental, and
 mental health care, how care was covered, days the respondent took off
 from various activities, reporting of the incident to the police or to
 others, if the respondent obtained a restraining order, if the
 offender violated the restraining order, if criminal charges were
 filed, if the offender was convicted, if the offender was sentenced to
 jail or prison, and if the respondent was satisfied with how he/she
 was treated during the court process. Section N recorded information
 about violence in the respondent's current relationship, including
 whether the respondent ever left the relationship, and if so, how many
 days he/she stayed away and where he/she stayed, the reason he/she
 returned home, if violence increased or decreased after returning
 home, if the spouse/partner ever left the relationship because of
 their violence toward the respondent, and how many different times
 they left. Variables also include information on children living with
 the respondent at the time of the incident, if the spouse/partner
 received counseling for their violent behavior, and if the respondent
 thought the violent behavior had stopped. The section concludes with
 variables to assess if the respondent had symptoms associated with
 post-traumatic stress disorder. Other variables in the data include
 interviewer gender, respondent gender, number of adult women and adult
 men in the household, number of different telephones in the household,
and region code.
description: Response Rates: Participation rates were calculated using the
 following formula: the number of completed interviews, including those
 that were screened out as ineligible, divided by the total number of
 completed interviews, screened-out interviews, refusals, and
 terminated interviews. Using this formula, the household participation
 rate was 72.1 percent in the female survey and 68.9 percent in the
 male survey. Of the eligible respondents who started the interview, 97
 percent of the women and 98 percent of the men followed the survey
 through to completion. Five completed interviews with men were
 eliminated from the sample during data editing due to an excessive
amount of incongruous data.
description: Presence of Common Scales: The Depression Inventory was based on questions
 contained in the SF-36 Health Survey, U.S. Acute Version, 1.0. Many of
 the questions included in the "Power, Control, and Emotional Abuse"
 section were adopted from the Canadian Violence Against Women Survey
 (see Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 19th
 Floor, R.H. Coats Building, Ottawa, Canada K1A 0T6). The twelve items
 on physical victimization were adaptations of items in the Conflict
 Tactics Scales (Straus, 1979, #4629). Several Likert-type scales were
also used.
description: The sample was drawn as a national, random-digit dialing
 (RDD) sample of telephone households in the United States. The sample
 was stratified by U.S. Census region, and within regional strata a
 simple random sample of working, residential, "hundreds banks" phone
 numbers was drawn. A randomly generated two-digit number was appended
 to each randomly sampled hundreds bank to produce the full 10-digit
 phone number. Nonworking and nonresidential numbers were screened
 out. The most-recent-birthday method was used to systematically select
 the designated respondent in households with multiple eligible
respondents.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Female Respondent Data
DS2: Male Respondent Data
description: All men and women in the United States 18 years of age or
older.
description: (1) Additional reports based on these data are
 expected to be published by the Center for Policy Research through the
 support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the
 National Institute of Justice. Users are encouraged to connect to
 these government agencies' Web sites for information on obtaining
 future reports. (2) The user guide, codebook, and data collection
 instruments are provided as Portable Document Format (PDF) files. The
 PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be
 accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat
 Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is
provided on the ICPSR Web site