BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana Illuminator) – More than half of adults in Louisiana have experienced physical violence during their lifetime but what those acts look like largely depends on the victim’s gender, according to an annual survey conducted last year.
In Louisiana, gun violence is much more likely to be carried out against men, while severe intimate partner violence — sometimes referred to as domestic abuse — is much more likely to happen to women, showed the result of a study by Tulane University, the University of California San Diego and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
“Violence is a gendered issue. It is different if you are a man or a woman or a boy or a girl,” Anita Raj, executive director of the Newcomb Institute at Tulane University and the study’s lead author, said in an interview.
Raj’s survey, the Louisiana Study on Violence Experiences Across the Lifespan, is the only comprehensive research of its kind conducted in the state. It was administered online in English and Spanish between May 13 and June 18, 2025, to more than 1,000 Louisiana residents 18 and older.
The survey shows Louisiana residents experience violence at an alarmingly high rate. Eight percent of people surveyed said they were subjected to physical violence in the past year, including 3% who said they were threatened with either a knife or a gun.
Who commits the violence and what form it takes largely depends on the victim’s gender.
Over half of women (58%) who had experienced physical violence within a year of the survey reported their spouse or partner were responsible for the incidents, compared with just 14% of men. Most men (53%) who had experienced physical violence in that time period said they were targeted by a stranger, compared with just 5% of women, according to the report.
Men were much more likely to be subjected to gun violence than women, however; 4% of men reported they had been threatened or attacked with a gun in the year before the survey was taken, compared with just 1% of women, according to the report.
Yet women (13%) were more likely to experience sexual harassment and sexual violence than men (6%). Almost one in four women (23%) surveyed also said they had been subjected to forced sex during their lifetimes, compared with 7% of men.
Severe intimate partner violence, sometimes called domestic violence, was also much more prevalent for women.
Almost 25% of women reported they had been subjected to potentially lethal forms of intimate partner violence — such as choking, suffocation, burns, beatings and use of a weapon — during their lifetimes. Only 6% of men reported being the victims of life-threatening violence from a spouse or dating partner.
Mariah Wineski, executive director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said the study’s findings align with what domestic violence shelters and other victim advocacy groups see on a daily basis.
“Many times, the most dangerous place for a woman is in her home or in her relationship,” Wineski said.
Intimate partner violence is more widespread among younger people. Twelve percent of respondents who are 18-24 years old and 15% of those ages 25-34 experienced violence and controlling behavior from a partner in the year before the survey was taken. Only 1-2% over people 55 and older reported the same problem.
Raj and Wineski said prevention programs aimed at reducing intimate partner violence need to start with adolescents in order to have the greatest impact.
“It is much more effective to change the attitudes and beliefs of a child or adolescent,” Wineski said. “They are at a better place in their lives for learning all sorts of new things, including how to interact with other people.”
Programs that promote economic stability and lift people out of poverty also help curb violence, according to Raj’s report.
Survey participants who reported not having enough money for food or other basic necessities were five times more likely to have experienced physical violence in the past year and six times more likely to experience intimate partner violence. People who are homeless were nine times more likely to experience intimate partner violence, according to the report.
“Policies that expand women’s economic and political participation, promote safety in workplaces and public spaces, and protect LGBTQ+ people advance not only equity but also safety for all,” the report concluded.
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