According to many researchers and physicians, such as Cathy L. Baldwin-Johnson, who spoke before the annual meeting of the American Academy of Family Physicians, partner violence is the most common form of domestic violence, and occurs within all ethnic groups, economic classes, religions, and age groups, as well as in homosexual relationships (Wood pp). Ninety-five percent of all victims of violence are women, and approximately half of all women in the United States will be abused by a current or former partner sometime during their lifetime (Wood pp). Up to fifty percent of all female homicide victims are murdered by their male partners, compared with twelve percent of men killed by their partners (Wood pp). Moreover, assault during pregnancy is a huge problem, in fact, homicide is the leading cause of mortality in pregnant women (Wood pp). In ot

Raul's study suggests that female violence is a risk marker for a couple's separation in the general population that needs to be acknowledged (Raul pp). Moreover, the study revealed that nearly half of the couples engaged in bidirectional violence, in other words they reported both MFPV and FMPV (Raul pp). However, these high rates of female violence are perhaps due to retaliation to male partner's aggressive acts (Raul pp).

Domestic violence usually begins as verbal or emotional abuse with the intent to intimidate and isolate, and then escalates to physical abuse, which increases in frequency and severity over time (Wood pp). According to Dr. Baldwin-Johnson, "Almost sixty percent of rapes of women over 30 are related to their battering relationship with their partner" (Wood pp). Fifty percent of victims report being threatened by a weapon, and that the rape occurred after a beating, while forty-four percent reported being hit, kicked, or burned during sex, and twenty-nine percent reported have an object forcibly inserted in the vagina or anus (Wood pp). Sexually abused domestic violence victims are at greater risk for death, says Baldwin-Johnson (Wood pp). Moreover, victims of domestic violence are at greater risk for mental health problems, such as panic attacks, eating disorders, depression, substance abuse, post traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, headaches, and gastrointestinal complaints (Wood pp). Furthermore, abused women are at high risk for suicide due to feelings of hopelessness and self-induced or attempted abortion (Wood pp).

Some studies suggest that spouses converge their drinking behavior and that female drinking behavior is influenced by having a spouse who already drinks heavily and/or who pressures her into drinking (Raul pp). As with female violence, male partners perhaps tend to leave the relationship more readily when encountered with female alcohol-related problems (Raul pp). Research evidence indicates that individuals who report alcohol-related problems are more at risk for intimate partner violence than those who do not report these problems, and symptoms of alcohol dependence are also noted concurrently in both male and female perpetrators of violence (Raul pp).

Excessive drinking adds another critical dimension to the mechanism of family violence, because heavy drinking increases the risk of male violence, and alcohol-related assaults against wives are more likely when both partners are heavy drinkers

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