Risk Factors for Violence in Adult Heterosexual Noncasual Relationships: An Overview of Reviews

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread social, public health, and human rights problem. Empirical investigation of IPV risk factors can promote evidence-based assessment tools and effective prevention and intervention. This overview is a pioneering synthesis of systematic reviews (SRs) of IPV risk factors. Systematic searches for SRs in English reporting a meta-analysis of IPV risk factors in adult heterosexual, non-casual relationships published between January 2011 and June 2021 were conducted in four bibliographic databases: Medline via EBSCO, CINAHL Plus, Scopus, and APA PsycInfo. This search strategy identified 1,027 unique records. Supplementary manual search methods were completed in July 2023. Overall, 17 SRs utilizing a meta-analytic approach to investigate IPV risk factors published between 2012 and 2022 were included in the overview. Risk factors were organized into five key categories: demographic, individual, family of origin, relationship, and social. Overall, 73 unique risk factors relating to perpetrators and 61 relating to victims were identified in the SRs. Just 50 of the 119 coefficients relating to IPV perpetration were reported, by any SR, as statistically significant and of moderate or strong predictive power; and 39 of these 50 factors related to previous IPV. Only 26 of the 147 coefficients relating to IPV victimization were both statistically significant and of moderate or strong predictive power, the majority of which (15) were in the relationship violence grouping of risk factors. The evidence suggests a randomness to IPV. This body of evidence provides some limited direction for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.