New DAHMW Publications 2 Directors Message 2 Research Study 3 New DAHMW Video PSA 3 Directors Message cont 4 The cover story repeats some of what I posted in "Domestic Violence Awareness", but it bears repeating. Here's it is:

Women are doing virtually everything these days that men are—–including physically assaulting their spouses or partners.

Research in the area of intimate partner violence (IPV) has been going on for decades. A great deal of the research on IPV has been primarily focused on violence against women by their male intimate partners. For years the research has shown that the most prevalent and injurious type of domestic violence is men’s violence against women. However, as we learn more about domestic violence; it’s causes, it’s victims and it’s perpetrators, researchers and others working in the field of domestic violence are discovering and acknowledging that both women and men in heterosexual and same-sex relationships can be victims and perpetrators of this insidious problem that plagues our society.
A recent study focused on reciprocal and nonreciprocal IPV in heterosexual couples conducted by Daniel Whitaker, Ph.D. and his colleagues at the Centers for disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had some surprising outcomes for the researchers.
For this study Daniel Whitaker, Ph.D. and his colleagues used the responses from a national longitudinal study of adolescent health which asked subjects to answer questions about their romantic or sexual relationships of the past five years and about whether there was any violence in those relationships. Of the original sample of 14,322 individuals ages 18 to 28, 11,370 reported having heterosexual relationships and also answered violence related questions. Whitaker et al. used those responses to determine how much violence was experienced in intimate heterosexual partner relationships, who the instigators were and whether or not physical harm resulted from the violence.
The 11,370 subjects reported on 18,761 relationships, 76 percent of which were nonviolent and 24% violent. Of the 24% that were violent, half had been reciprocally violent and half had not. Regarding perpetration of violence, more women than men (25% versus 11%) were responsible. In fact, 71% of the instigators were women.
What the researchers found was that while physical injury was more likely to occur in relationships where the violence was reciprocal and perpetrated by a the man, when the violence was nonreciprocal it was the man who was injured by the woman more often. Whitaker and his group felt that this was a surprising and important finding because violence perpetrated by women has often been seen as less or not serious.
DAHMW helpline callers have reported serious injuries, i.e. being hospitalized with gun shot and stab wounds, being struck purposely by a vehicle, perpetrated against them by their female intimate partners for the last seven years. So the results of this research is does not come as a surprise to us, however it does reaffirm the need for more supportive services for male victims.

To read the entire article by Joan Arehart-Treichel, “Men Shouldn’t Be Overlooked as Victims of Partner Violence,” in the linical & Research News go to: http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/ cgi/content/full/42/15/31-a?eaf
An abstract of the study, “Difference in frequency of Violence and Reported Injury Between Relationships with Reciprocal and Nonreciprocal Intimate Partner Violence “ is posted at www.ajph.org/cgi/ content/abstract/97/5/941

I'm going to try to embed the video at the end of this entry. It's 5 minutes long, and well worth watching. If I can't get it so it won't play automatically, I'll just put the link

There are a couple of links on their home page for online domestic support groups for men: Battered Husbands Support, and Abused Guys.

There are a few offline support groups as well in Central Maine and Yuma/El Centro area of SW Arizona and SE California. See their site for more info.