Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men: 2010 Findings from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS)

Dataset 1 (General Population Raw Data) The questionnaire was divided into several sections and included information on demographic characteristics of the respondent, health conditions, victimization experiences (including psychological aggression, coercive control and entrapment, physical violence by an intimate partner, stalking victimization, and sexual violence). The questionnaire also included information about perpetrators and follow-up questions. Demographics - Respondents were asked their year of birth, education level, race and ethnicity, place of birth (if not U.S. born, number of years lived in the U.S.), whether they were affiliated or enrolled in a tribe or village, whether they have ever and in the past 12 months lived on a reservation or in a tribal village, their total household income, and zip code. Health - Respondents were asked about the following health conditions: asthma, chronic pain, diabetes, difficulty sleeping, frequent headaches, high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), general physical health, and mental health. They were also asked about activity limitations as a result of physical, mental, or emotional problems, and about health problems that require use of special equipment. They were also asked how often they worried or were stressed about having enough money to pay their rent or mortgage, buy nutritious meals, and times when they needed to see a doctor but couldn't afford it. Victimization - Respondents were asked to report the number of people who had perpetrated a series of violence behaviors (described below) against them. For each perpetrator they reported, they were asked for the initials of the perpetrator and the number of times the perpetrator did the behavior ever, in the past three years, and in the past 12 months. Psychological aggression (PA), which included behaviors such as acting dangerous, name calling, insults, and humiliation. ; Coercive control and entrapment (CCE), which included behaviors that are intended to monitor and control an intimate partner such as threats, interference with family and friends, and limiting access to money. It also included behaviors intended to control reproductive or sexual health.; Physical violence (PV), which included behaviors such as slapping, pushing or shoving, being hurt by pulling hair, being hit with something hard, being kicked, being slammed against something, attempts to hurt by choking or suffocating, being beaten, being burned on purpose, and having a partner use a knife or gun against the victim. ; Stalking (S), which included a pattern of unwanted harassing or threatening tactics used by a perpetrator that caused fear or concern for the safety of oneself or others, such as unwanted phone calls or emails, watching or following from a distance, technology assisted tactics (GPS), and leaving strange or potentially threatening items for the victim to find. ; Sexual violence (SV), which included rape (completed forced penetration; attempted forced penetration; alcohol or drug facilitated completed penetration); being made to penetrate another person (completed; attempted - males only; alcohol or drug facilitated); sexual coercion (unwanted sexual penetration after being pressured in a non-physical way), unwanted sexual contact (e.g., being kissed in a sexual way, fondled or grabbed), and non-contact unwanted sexual experiences (i.e., unwanted experiences that do not involve any touching or penetration such as someone exposing their sexual body parts, flashing, or masturbating in front of the victim; making a victim show his or her body parts; making a victim look at or participate in sexual photos or movies; or someone harassing the victim in a public place in a way that made the victim feel unsafe). ; Respondents aged 70 and older were also asked about perpetrators other than romantic and sexual partners for recent psychological aggression, coercive control and entrapment, and physical violence victimization (i.e., past 12 months only). These questions were included as a part of a pilot to assess the utility of using NISVS to capture some information on victimization among older adults. Note: Users are cautioned against using the raw data to determine the prevalence of elder abuse in the United States or to understand patterns of elder abuse. The NISVS survey does not include the range of victimization (e.g., neglect, financial and other forms of exploitation) that is understood in the field as constituting elder abuse and should not be construed as such. The data are also only for the past 12 months and for those aged 70 and older. The field of elder abuse and other aging related legislation (e.g., Older American's Act) uses ages 60 and older as the cut-off. In this regard, the sample does not cover the population of interest and the limited types of victimization assessed in NISVS preclude making generalizable statements about elder abuse in the United States. Perpetrator Information - All behaviors in the NISVS survey were linked to a specific perpetrator and all questions were asked within the context of that perpetrator. Respondents who reported experiencing violence were asked to provide the interviewer with the initials or a nickname for the individual perpetrator or identify the person in some other general way so that each violent behavior reported could be tied to a specific perpetrator. Respondents were then asked a series of questions about each perpetrator including the perpetrator's age, sex, and race/ethnicity. In addition, for each perpetrator reported, respondents were asked their age and their relationship to the perpetrator, both at the time violence first began and at the last time violence was experienced. Follow-up Questions - Respondents who reported experiencing stalking victimization were asked a series of follow-up questions, including the respondent's age when they first experienced stalking by each perpetrator and the age at which they last experienced stalking. They were also asked whether they were fearful, whether the perpetrator ever damaged personal property or belongings, ever threatened to physically harm them, and whether they believed that they or someone close to them would be seriously harmed or killed. Respondents who reported being threatened with physical harm or physically forced to have sex were also asked a series of follow-up questions, including the respondent's age when they first experienced these behaviors by each perpetrator and the age at which they last experienced these behaviors. They were also asked whether they were physically injured, contracted an STD, or became pregnant as a result of the victimization. A series of general follow-up questions were asked of respondents who reported victimization in the preceding sections of the survey (i.e., psychological aggression, coercive control and entrapment, and physical violence by an intimate partner; stalking, and sexual violence victimization). Respondents were asked about the impact of the violence they experienced by a specific perpetrator. These questions included whether they were ever concerned for their safety; if they were ever fearful (and if so, how fearful); if they had nightmares, were constantly on guard, watchful, or easily startled; if they felt numb or detached from others, their activities, or surroundings; if they were ever injured (and if so, what those injuries included); who they talked with about the behavior(s) (and if so, how helpful these discussions were); their need for and ability to get services (medical care, housing services, community services, victim's advocate or legal services); and whether they ever had to miss work or school. The variables in Dataset 2 (American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Oversample Raw Data) data file are the same as those in Dataset 1. However, there are several variables not in Dataset 2 data file which are present in Dataset 1. These include approximately 12 administrative variables, 658 coercive control and entrapment variables, 13 demographic variables, 1 follow-up variable, 564 physical violence variables, 235 psychological aggression variables, 1,364 sexual violence variables, 329 stalking variables, and 3 weight variables. Dataset 3 (Respondent-level Data) was created to include all respondent-level variables from the NISVS victimization core. From the psychological aggression (PA), coercive control and entrapment (CCE), physical violence (PV), stalking (ST), and sexual violence (SV) sections, this includes the respondents' answers to the number of lifetime perpetrators, victimization in the past three years, the number of perpetrators in the past three years, victimization in the past year, and the number of perpetrators in the past year. From the elder abuse - psychological aggression (EPA), elder abuse - coercive control (ECCE) and entrapment, and elder abuse - physical violence (EPV) sections, this includes the respondents' answers to the number of past year perpetrators. Dataset 4 (Perpetrator-level Data) contains all perpetrator-level variables from the NISVS victimization core. From the psychological aggression (PA), coercive control and entrapment (CCE), physical violence (PV), stalking (ST), and sexual violence (SV) sections, this includes the number of victimizations by each perpetrator over the lifetime, over the past three years, and over the past year. From the elder abuse - psychological aggression (EPA) , elder abuse - coercive control and entrapment (ECCE), elder abuse - physical violence (EPV) sections, this includes the number of victimizations by each perpetrator over the past year. The variables in Dataset 5 (Weights File) include corrected weights for the combined General Population/AIAN samples. Weights for the AIAN oversample were originally included in the data file, but they were incorrect and should not be used. Users should consult the Technical Report for more information.