A pattern of abusive and coercive behaviors, including physical, sexual and psychological attacks, as well as economic coercion, that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partners. Domestic violence is not an isolated, individual event, but rather a pattern of multiple tactics and repeated events. Unlike stranger-to-stranger violence, domestic violence assaults are repeated against the same victim by the same perpetrator. (References: Anne L. Ganley, Ph.D. and Susan Schechter, M.S.W.)
