Objectives:
To compare ways to express aggression in women who experienced various forms of intimate partner violence and in women without such history.

Methods:
The severity and ways of regulating aggression were assessed with the Inventory of Psychological Syndrome of Aggression (IPSA) by Gaś. Information about various characteristics of violence (type, duration) was collected with a specifically designed questionnaire. Altogether 60 women were assessed, aged 19-59. Among them, 30 were in relationships characterized by partner violence, which lasted at least one year and included physical abuse (86%, n=26), psychological abuse (96%, n=29) and/or sexual abuse (16%, n=5). Thirty women without experiences of violence in their relationships were included as control group, matched by age, educational level, and relationship duration.

Results:
Women with experience of long-term violence in relationships did not differ from the control group regarding the severity of aggression, desire to retaliate or the severity of explicit aggression. However, they obtained significantly higher scores in the dimensions of emotional and physical autoaggression, as well as of hostility. On the other hand, they expressed indirect aggression less often than women with no history of partner violence.

Conclusions:
A proper diagnosis of intimate partner violence-related phenomena in relationships, aided by a systematic research on the occurrence of victimization, may provide valid data which could prove helpful in designing strategies for preventing violence and providing an appropriate treatment for women with such experiences.