Family violence has become a significant public health issue in the United States (Wood pp). Many believe the reason for the problem of domestic violence within the United States is because the U.S. has the highest substance abuse rate of any industrialized nation (Drug pp). There have been numerous studies to support a relationship between substance abuse and domestic violence.

             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 other words, there are more deaths from domestic violence than from any medical complication of pregnancy (Wood 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).