History

Rennison and Welchans report on intimate partner violence is informative on the prevalence of intimate partner violence based on gender, race and ethnicity, age, household income, marital status, home ownership, among other factors from 1993 and 1998. When defining intimate partners, Rennison and Welchans (2000) refer to current or former spouses as well as current or former girlboyfriends with the relationship being of the same or different gender.
Report summary
    Women experienced higher rates of violence whether it was homicide or simple assault than men. According to race and ethnicity, intimate partner victimization among the blacks was appreciably higher than in all other races over the same time span. Even among the blacks, women experienced higher rates of violence than men although black men experienced higher rates of violence than men of other races.
    Violence against intimate partners according to this report shows that it is quite low for persons aged below 16 years or above 50 years. It is more common in persons aged 20-24 years again women experiencing higher rates of violence than men in the same age bracket. Household income data indicate considerably higher rates of intimate partner violence among women living in households with low incomes as compared to women living in high income households. Household income is not related to violence against males.
    Persons who are divorced or separated encountered more violence regardless of gender with never married persons following. May be stable marriages are a sign of low or no partner violence. Living in an own house is linked with low violence rates in both men and women whereas living in urban and suburban areas is related with high violence rates. Overall, women report violence than men and consideration of intimate partner violence as a private matter hinders this.
Conclusion
    With intimate violence mainly against women as per this report showing a decreasing trend from 1993 to 1993, would it not have been better for Rennison and Welchans to explore the reason behind this.