Smartphones and social media are part of everyday life, especially for young adults. But the same technologies that help people stay connected can also be used to control, monitor, threaten, or harass an intimate partner. A new study examines technology-facilitated intimate partner violence (TFIPV) and how it relates to physical partner violence, gender, and mental health among young adults in the US.
A team of researchers from USC, Rutgers University, and St Francis Xavier University analyzed data from 1,053 young adults who reported being in a serious relationship, engaged, or married and who participated in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. They looked at behaviors such as repeatedly calling or messaging a partner, posting mean or embarrassing things about them online, pressuring them to share passwords or location information, and accessing their private accounts without permission.
The findings show that digital abuse often aligns with physical intimate partner violence. In fact, those who had experienced TFIPV had almost 10 times the odds of experiencing physical partner violence compared with those who had not. The study also found important gender differences: young men reported TFIPV victimization more often, while young women experiencing TFIPV reported worse mental health outcomes than men, including higher levels of depression and anxiety.
Why does this matter? Technology is now deeply embedded in romantic relationships, making it easier for controlling or abusive behaviors to follow someone wherever they go. Digital abuse is not simply a benign feature of young people’s online relationships. Digital monitoring, persistent messaging, demands for passwords, or pressure to share a location may be warning signs of a broader pattern of abuse rather than harmless relationship conflicts.
The findings suggest that prevention programs need to broaden how they define relationship violence. Healthy relationships require digital boundaries and consent, too. The results also underscore the need to challenge the stereotype that men are less likely to be victims of TFIPV, which discourages men from identifying as victims and seeking help for TFIPV.
Overall, the study suggests that digital abuse extends beyond ordinary relationship dynamics and may be an early warning sign of more serious forms of partner violence.