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- Low self-esteem
- Emotional dependence and insecurity
- Desire for power and control in relationships
- Unhealthy family relationships and interactions
- Antisocial personality traits
- Borderline personality traits
- Anger and hostility
- Low academic achievement
- Young age
- Dominance and control of the relationship by one partner over the other
- Marital conflict-fights, tension, and other struggles
- Being a prior victim of physical or psychological abuse
- Aggressive or delinquent behavior as a youth
- History of experiencing physical discipline as a child
- Belief in strict gender roles
- Having few friends and being isolated from other people
- Heavy alcohol and drug use
- Depression
- Unemployment, low income and economic stress
- History of experiencing poor parenting as a child
- Perpetrating psychological aggression
- Weak community sanctions against violence
- Prior history of being physically abusive
- Low social capital (e.g. lack of institutions and norms that shape a community’s social interactions)
- Poverty and associated factors (e.g. overcrowding)
