Risk factors Associated with Violence Against Women ? World Health Association (WHO)

Factors found to be associated with intimate partner and sexual violence occur within individuals, families and communities and wider society. Some factors are associated with being a perpetrator of violence, some are associated with experiencing violence and some are associated with both.

Risk factors for both intimate partner and sexual violence include:

lower levels of education (perpetration of sexual violence and experience of sexual violence);
exposure to child maltreatment (perpetration and experience);
witnessing family violence (perpetration and experience );
antisocial personality disorder (perpetration);
harmful use of alcohol (perpetration and experience);
having multiple partners or suspected by their partners of infidelity (perpetration); and
attitudes that are accepting of violence and gender inequality (perpetration and experience).
Factors specifically associated with intimate partner violence include:

past history of violence ( perpetration and experience;
marital discord and dissatisfaction (perpetrators and victims).
Factors specifically associated with sexual violence perpetration include:

beliefs in family honour and sexual purity;
ideologies of male sexual entitlement; and
weak legal sanctions for sexual violence.
The unequal position of women relative to men and the normative use of violence to resolve conflict are strongly associated with both intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence.