title: Sexual infidelity as trigger for intimate partner violence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We conducted a qualitative study to examine acute, situational factors and chronic stressors that triggered severe intimate partner violence (IPV) in women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our sample consisted of 17 heterosexual couples, where the male was in detention for IPV and made telephone calls to his female victim. We used up to 4 hours of telephone conversational data for each couple to examine the couple's understanding of (1) acute triggers for the violent event and (2) chronic stressors that created the underlying context for violence. Grounded theory guided our robust, iterative data analysis involving audiotape review, narrative summation, and thematic organization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Consistently across couples, violence was acutely triggered by accusations of infidelity, typically within the context of alcohol or drug use. Victims sustained significant injury, including severe head trauma (some resulting in hospitalization/surgery), bite wounds, strangulation complications, and lost pregnancy. Chronic relationship stressors evident across couples included ongoing anxiety about infidelity, preoccupation with heterosexual gender roles and religious expectations, drug and alcohol use, and mental health concerns (depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation/attempts).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Disseminated models feature jealousy as a strategy used by perpetrators to control IPV victims and as a red flag for homicidal behavior. Our findings significantly extend this notion by indicating that infidelity concerns, a specific form of jealousy, were the immediate trigger for both the acute violent episode and resulting injuries to victims and were persistently raised by both perpetrators and victims as an ongoing relationship stressor.
authors: Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, The Ohio State University College of Public Health, 1841 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. nemeth.37@buckeyemail.osu.edu
authors: Julianna M
authors: JM
authors: Nemeth
authors: Amy E
authors: AE
authors: Bonomi
authors: Meghan A
authors: MA
authors: Lee
authors: Jennifer M
authors: JM
authors: Ludwin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007578:Jealousy; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008603:Mental Health; D011329:Prisoners; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D013637:Tape Recording; D013689:Telephone; D035502:Trust; D014861:Washington