Intimate Partner Violence: Strategies to Engage Male Victims

In recent decades, research on intimate partner violence (IPV) has yielded important information on prevalence rates, risk factors, and outcomes about female IPV victims; however, there remains a limited amount of research about male victims of IPV, especially male victims in the military. This report describes the current research on male IPV victims and important considerations for professionals who work with and on behalf of military families to better identify and engage male victims. The first part of the report is a summary of an extensive review of theoretical and empirical research on IPV, with a focus on male victims, which includes definitions, theory, prevalence rates, risk factors, and outcome data. The second part of the report reviews support services and treatments used to help male IPV victims, as well as potential approaches to better engage male IPV victims in available treatment and services. The report concludes with recommendations for professionals who work with and on behalf of military families to consider as they work to improve the well-being of male IPV victims.