What is Interpersonal Violence?

At UNC-Chapel Hill, we focus on the primary prevention of interpersonal violence, or approaches that take place before violence has occurred to prevent initial perpetration or victimization.

Interpersonal violence is defined by the World Health Organization as any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological, or sexual harm to those in the relationship. 

Violence is considered the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actually, against another person that results in a high likelihood of resulting in injury and/or psychological harm or death. 

Interpersonal violence can be perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner, an acquaintance, or a stranger, though the latter occurs the least frequently. Though the majority of cases involve men perpetrating violence against women, we know that interpersonal violence occurs in same-sex relationships and that women can perpetrate violence in heterosexual relationships as well.

When we talk about interpersonal violence at UNC-Chapel Hill, we focus on the major areas which affect Tar Heels the most:

• Sexual assault
• Abusive relationships, and 
• Stalking

These definitions are used in HAVEN and One Act trainings, used in our UNC Honor Code, and accepted academically in the field of violence prevention. They are not necessarily the legal definitions (because each state legally defines the word “rape” and it varies slightly) but common nationally to service providers such as doctors or nurses as well as violence prevention staff.

Please see safe.unc.edu/get-info to learn more about types of interpersonal violence.