In September, amid a firestorm of bad publicity, the Baltimore Ravens fired running back Ray Rice, after a hotel surveillance tape showed him rendering his fiance (now wife) unconscious with one punch. But many other women-and men-experience intimate partner violence that doesn't make the news. In fact, physical violence by a partner, such as being hit with an object, kicked, beaten, or burned, is experienced by 22% of women and 14% of men in their lifetimes, according to a recent surveillance report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 9% of women and 5% of men surveyed had missed at least one day of work or school because of intimate partner violence.

Figure. A trainer with the University of South Florida Center for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention's REAL (Relationship Equality and Antiviolence League) program teaches students to be more aware of situations that could lead to sexual violence. Photo by Steve J. Coddington / St. Petersburg Times / The Image Works

The report, the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, is the result of telephone interviews of 6,879 women and 5,848 men across the country. The survey revealed that approximately 20% of women and 2% of men reported having been raped, and 15% of women and 6% of men had been stalking victims.

Many of these crimes occur when the victims are young. Among women who reported being raped, 79% were assaulted before age 25, and 40% were younger than 18. Among those who experienced sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking committed by an intimate partner, 71% of women and 58% of men were younger than 25 when the crimes occurred.

According to the survey, nonwhite women are at particularly high risk. About half of multiracial and American Indian or Alaska Native women experienced physical violence by an intimate partner, as did 41% of non-Hispanic black women; 30% of non-Hispanic white and Hispanic women experienced intimate partner violence. Victims need medical, legal, and housing services, yet of those surveyed, as many as half had no access to such services.

These findings highlight the need for prevention programs that teach adolescents skills and behaviors that can help them avoid violence in relationships. The authors recommend programs like Safe Dates (http://1.usa.gov/1uhKWPf) and Dating Matters (http://1.usa.gov/1uDLbAw). Research is needed to "identify risk and protective factors" surrounding victimization in multiracial men and women, write the authors.-Carol Potera

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