Statistics and Facts About Women in the U.S.
Who Are Domestic Violence Victims
Domestic abuse/violence and dating abuse/violence can be physical, emotional, psychological, and/or sexual. They can happen to anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, economic level, education level, religion, or gender.
The following are startling and alarming statistics on domestic abuse/violence and dating abuse/violence in the United States:
- In the U.S., 1 in 4 women will be a victim of domestic violence. Domestic violence is a “silent epidemic” in our country.
- Domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness for women.
- Every 9 seconds a woman in the U.S. is assaulted or beaten.
- 1 in 5 women is a victim of sexual assault during college.
- Domestic violence victims often do not report the abuse due to shame, embarrassment, and guilt as well as immense fear that her abuser will increase the abuse.
- There is a common misconception that domestic violence victims can just walk away. An abusive relationship is highly complex. For example, the victim may be financially dependent on her abuser, children may be involved, she has no place else to go, she doubts herself, “Maybe things are not as bad as I think they are. Maybe I am exaggerating.” And, often the fear of leaving is greater than the fear of staying. She fears “he may try to kill me or the children if I leave.”
- An abuser is an expert manipulator. The abuser often practices love-bombing after an abusive attack. The victim thinks, “He does love me. He gives me [fill in the blank]. He’s a good man when he’s in a good mood.”
- Doing a look back, a domestic violence survivor, a woman who has escaped the abusive relationship, realizes, “I should have left the first time he hit me” or “I should have left the first time he called me names and denigrated me.”
- Over half of all female homicide victims are killed by a current or former partner.
- 60% of battered women report having lost a job due to abuse at home. Job loss stems from decreased productivity, absenteeism caused by injuries, attending court appearances, fear of the abuser locating the victim at her workplace, and the abuser preventing the victim from working. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that abused women in the United States miss nearly 8 million days of paid work in a single year – the equivalent of losing more than 32,000 full-time jobs from the U.S. economy.
- Domestic violence victims suffer a higher lifetime prevalence of poor physical health as well as mental health disorders, i.e., depression, anxiety, and insomnia, PTSD, eating disorders, and suicide.
- The impact of domestic violence reaches far beyond the victim. There’s the ripple effect, the high costs borne by communities, businesses and governments including: healthcare services, such as emergency room visits and hospital stays; medication; physical therapy; social and welfare services; counseling services; police and criminal justice services; legal services; transportation costs; housing and other refuge services; and services used to treat children of abused women.
- There are severe and long-term effects of domestic violence on the children of victims including physical health problems; behavior problems like juvenile delinquency and alcohol and substance abuse; self-harming; violence and criminality; and emotional difficulties like depression and anxiety disorders.
Sources include: National Coalition Against Domestic Violence; The National Domestic Violence Hotline; Domestic Violence Statistics