Examining the Relationship Between Childhood Sexual Abuse Victimisation and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration in Adult Males: A Systematic Review

This systematic review identifies, summarises, and critically evaluates quantitative studies examining the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) victimisation and physical, sexual, and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration in adult males. A database search was conducted to identify eligible studies. A synthesis and appraisal of methodological quality of the primary studies was conducted. Fifteen studies were reviewed, comprising of a total of 48,699 men. Despite methodological and statistical heterogeneity, this review indicates an association between CSA victimisation and all three (i.e., physical, sexual and psychological) domains of IPV perpetration in adult males. Overall, study quality was assessed as ‘fair’. The relationship between CSA victimisation and IPV in adulthood in males requires further exploration. Research in this area has thus far relied predominantly on self-reported IPV perpetration within community-based, non-forensic samples. Future studies would benefit from including objective assessments of IPV and from examining the CSA-IPV relationship in offender samples. Further research examining the pathways from CSA to IPV is needed.