Prevalence of psychological and physical intimate partner aggression in Madrid (Spain): a dyadic analysis

The goal of the present study is to analyze the prevalence of bidirectional psychological and physical aggression in intimate partner relationships using the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-2), and to determine the influence of the variables age and relationship duration. The participants were 3,578 heterosexual couples from the Region of Madrid. Bidirectional aggression was the most frequent pattern in the dyadic types of aggression examined; we analyzed the prevalences of mutual psychological (46%) and physical aggression (4%), reciprocal psychological (41%) and physical aggression (3%), and bidirectional psychological (80%) and physical aggression (25%). The variables age and relationship duration were significant predictors of bidirectional physical and psychological aggression. Younger couples and couples with less than a one-year relationship duration assaulted each other the most. These data provide an objective view of bidirectional aggression in Spanish community samples and serve as a reference point for prevention and intervention programs and forensic reports.