COVID-19 and Intimate Partner Violence: Prevalence of Resilience and Perceived Stress During a Pandemic

COVID-19 is a pandemic event not seen in a century. This research aims to identify the group differences regarding resilience and perceived stress for those who identified as single, in a relationship not experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), and those in a relationship experiencing IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses a cross-sectional design, with purposive snowball sampling, for primary survey data collected over 10 weeks starting the first week in April 2020 (n = 374). Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on demographics and behavioral factors. Resilience was assessed using the 10-item Connor Davidson Resilience Scale, and perceived stress was assessed using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale. Two one-way analysis of variance procedures were performed to identify statistically significant differences across 3 groups, those not in a relationship, those in a relationship not experiencing IPV, and those in a relationship and experiencing IPV. Analyses indicate that those experiencing IPV reported lower resilience and greater perceived stress. Analyses also show those in the experiencing IPV group were statistically significantly different from those in a relationship without IPV and those in the single group with respect to resilience. Those in the IPV experiences group were also statistically significantly different from the group of participants in relationships without reported IPV experiences with respect to perceived stress. These findings provide empirical support for the contention that public health measures put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 might have negative, unintentional consequences for people experiencing IPV and mental health issues.