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Abstract

Background
No prior random probability sample survey spans experience of all forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) among people with different types of impairment in England. This study aimed to compare the 12-month prevalence of four types of IPV (physical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse) for people with and without four types of impairment (physical, sensory, learning impairments, and experiencing difficulties with activities of daily living (ADLs)), taking account of variations by gender.

Methods
This study used data from the 2014 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a cross-sectional survey that covered the household population of England aged 16 years and older. Data was analysed on 7546 respondents (4488 women and 3058 men). Logistic regression was conducted and adjusted odds ratios (AORs) were reported separately for men and women.

Results
Disabled women reported significantly higher rates of psychological (AOR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.31–2.98) and sexual IPV (AOR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.55–3.91) than non-disabled women. No significant association was found for physical IPV. Women with a learning impairment reported the highest prevalence for almost all types of IPV. Women reporting restricted ADLs were at higher risk of experiencing economic abuse (AOR = 2.88, 95% CI = 1.33–6.23). Disabled men did not have a higher risk of experiencing any forms of IPV compared with non-disabled men.

Conclusion
While violence can contribute to onset of some forms of disability, our findings suggest that disability may also enhance the risk of IPV for disabled women, particularly for women with a learning impairment. Investment in targeted violence prevention programs specifically for disabled women is warranted.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Publisher Keywords:	Disability, Impairment, Activities of daily living, Intimate partner violence, Gender
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs School of Policy & Global Affairs > Violence and Society Centre
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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