title: Issues in estimating the prevalence of intimate partner violence: assessing the impact of abuse status on participation bias.
abstract: This study examines the potential implications of household interviews on participation bias for estimates of intimate partner violence (IPV). Using a variety of scales, IPV prevalence for the 135 women interviewed in a street-intercept survey was compared with the IPV prevalence of a subsample of these women who reported willingness to participate in a household survey with their partner in another room or when their partner also would be interviewed. A potential self-selection bias showed an 8% to 13% deflated prevalence of moderate to highly abused women and a 8% to 11% inflated prevalence of nonabused women among this subsample who would willingly participate in a household survey. Understanding who is included in household surveys, and who is not, is essential to compute and interpret national prevalence estimates for IPV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, State University of New York, New Paltz, USA.
authors.forename: Eve M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Waltermaurer
authors.forename: Christina A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: Louise-Anne
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: McNutt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015982:Bias; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012747:Sexual Partners; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D016387:Women's Health; D055815:Young Adult