Intimate partner violence (IPV) is best defined as “physical violence, sexual violence, stalking, and psychological aggression (including coercive acts) by a current or former intimate partner.” Previous literature has established that young adults are more susceptible to IPV than the general population due to many social and societal pressures surrounding their environments.

Young adulthood is laced with challenges, rigorous decisions, hectic schedules, and sometimes rocky relationships. When a person is faced with a difficult time or decision; sometimes they may choose to turn to loved ones for advice and/or support.

However, what if their loved one is the person causing them the most pain and uncertainty? A randomized controlled online questionnaire was conducted within the Rowan University student body to evaluate if IPV is prevalent within the Rowan community, if IPV was more common among female victims than male victims, and if persons whom dealt with IPV exposure had a harder time trusting a new partner, less self-esteem, and a lesser quality of life after their exposure compared to persons whom did not have exposure to IPV.

Through fliers and the SONA database, it was projected that roughly 200 participants would respond to the online survey and our results would correlate the exposure to IPV as higher with females than males and that exposure to IPV lessened persons self-esteem, trust, and quality of life compared to those who did not experience IPV exposure. Proper and accurate results and conclusions are forthcoming.

Authors: Kaitlyn Gilmartin & Louis Guardino