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Physical violence in intimate relationships almost always is accompanied by psychological abuse and, in one-third to over one-half of cases, by sexual abuse (59, 75, 131, 258, 272). For example, among 613 abused women in Japan, 57% had suffered all three types of abuse—physical, psychological, and sexual. Only 8% had experienced physical abuse alone (485). In Monterrey, Mexico, 52% of physically abused women had also been sexually abused by their partners (191). In León, Nicaragua, among 188 women who were physically abused by their partners, only 5 were not also abused sexually, psychologically, or both (131).

Most women who suffer any physical aggression generally experience multiple acts over time. In the León study, for example, 60% of women abused in the previous year were abused more than once, and 20% experienced severe violence more than six times. Among women reporting any physical aggression, 70% reported severe abuse (130). The average number of physical assaults in the previous year among currently abused women surveyed in London was seven (308); in the US in 1997, three (436).

In surveys of partner violence, women usually are asked whether or not they have experienced any of a list of specific actions, such as being slapped, pushed, punched, beaten, or threatened with a weapon. Asking behavioral questions—for example, “Has your partner ever physically forced you to have sex against your will?”—yields more accurate responses than asking women whether they have been “abused” or “raped” (127). Surveys generally define physical acts more severe than slapping, pushing, shoving, or throwing objects as “severe violence.”

Measuring “acts” of violence does not describe the atmosphere of terror that often permeates abusive relationships. For example, in Canada's 1993 national violence survey one-third of women who had been physically assaulted by a partner said that they had feared for their lives at some point in the relationship (378). Women often say that the psychological abuse and degradation are even more difficult to bear than the physical abuse (57, 58, 96).