# Prevalence and Correlates of Fearing a Partner During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Britain: Findings from Natsal-COVID

## TL;DR

This study found that around 9% of people in Britain feared their partner during the first year of the pandemic, with notable mental and physical health impacts.

## Contribution

The study provides population-level estimates of intimate partner violence during the pandemic using a validated screening tool.

## Key findings

- 9.0% of women and 8.7% of men reported fearing a partner during the first year of the pandemic.
- Women were more likely to feel anxious or depressed, while men were more likely to increase substance use or face work/study issues.
- Fearing a partner was linked to anxiety, depression, alcohol use, and relationship dissolution.

## Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions introduced personal and relationship stressors that potentially increased the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) for some. We estimated the population prevalence and correlates of fearing a partner in the first year of the pandemic in Britain.

We used data from Natsal-COVID Wave 2—a web-panel survey undertaken one year after the initial British lockdown from 23 March 2020. Quotas and weighting were used to achieve a quasi-representative sample of the general population. Participants were asked about fearing a partner, which is a simple and valid screening tool to identify IPV experiences.

In our sample (unweighted n = 6302, aged 18–59), 9.0% of women and 8.7% of men reported fearing a partner in the first year of the pandemic. Women (73.3%) were more likely than men (49.9%) to indicate that fearing a partner made them feel anxious or depressed; men were more likely to report increased substance use (30.8% vs. 18.4%) and affected work/studies (30.0% vs. 20.0%). For both women and men, fearing a partner during the first year of the pandemic was associated with established health and wellbeing outcomes like anxiety/depression, alcohol use, accessing sexual/reproductive health services, and relationship dissolution as well as feeling that the “pandemic made things worse” across various life domains.

Population-level estimates of IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight harmful experiences that occurred alongside other wide-ranging hardships, and the associations presented identify key populations with potential ongoing need. We make recommendations for primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of IPV.