Learning About Intimate Partner Psychological Abuse: An Exploratory Survey of Black Women’s Recollections

Intimate partner psychological abuse (IPPA) is a widespread yet less researched form of intimate partner violence. Little is known about how IPPA education has been accessed and received by Black adolescent girls in England. As part of a broader mixed-method study, this paper explores Black women’s recollections of their own experiences of learning about IPPA from both formal (at school) and informal (from parents) sources, mainly during their adolescent years. We report findings from a survey of 119 Black women (M age = 31.03, SD = 11.1). Overall, most participants had not explicitly learnt about IPPA at school (66.4%). 64.4% were dissatisfied with the information about IPPA that they received from their parents. When reflecting on learning throughout their lifetime, most women had in fact learnt about IPPA from informal sources such as social media (68.91%) and personal research (65.55%). Several participants expressed their support for training on IPPA to be provided to teachers and parents to equip them to educate current and future generations about IPPA. Implications are discussed, including consideration for the involvement of alternative sources, such as social workers and healthcare professionals, in IPPA education.