This article successfully establishes the ease of administering a
short screening questionaire in a pediatric office.
The article claims some validity in determining the incidence of
domestic violence based on a large sample size and the availability of
anonymous reporting. It gives reasons why the sample may underestimate
the true incidence of violence in the population. But it ignores the
factors which may cause it to overrepresent it.
The question used to detect the incidence of "domestic violence" is
"In your current relationship, have you ever been harmed or felt afraid of
your partner?"
The article correctly reports that other workers in the domestic
violence field have used the same definition and have obtained similar
incidence rates. However, the conclusion that the survey accurately
represents the incidence of domestic violence is not justified.
The survey question fails to distinguish between women who have
actually been harmed and those who may suffer from an anxiety disorder,
but have neither been harmed nor even threatened.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, "Anxiety
disorders are the most common mental illnesses in America: more than 19
million are affected by these debilitating illnesses each year."
(http://www.nimh.nih.gov/anxiety/anxiety/idx_fax.htm)
Since at any given time about 7% of the population suffers from
anxiety disorder, it is very surprising that only 2.5% of women report
that they have felt afraid of their current spouse! But the practice of
lumping together people who are harmed with people who have anxiety is
sure to inflate the numbers.
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