Young Adult Reports of the Victim-Offender Overlap in Intimate and Nonintimate Relationships: A Nationally Representative Sample

Controlling for conceptually important variables, the study explored whether different conflict management styles are associated with a respondent being in the victim-only, offender-only, both, or neither group (separately for verbal aggression, physical abuse for intimate and nonintimate relationships, and sexual abuse for intimate relationships). Data are from a nationally representative panel of U.S. households (N = 2,284 respondents of whom 871 women and 690 men report being in an intimate partnership). The study observed a high degree of overlap between victimization and offending across abuse measures. It found a range of modestly consistent risk factors, including conflict management styles and self-control, for the victim-offender overlap for partner and non-partner abuse experiences. (publisher abstract modified)