Exploring reasons for previously returning to violent relationships prior to pursuing civil protection order among female intimate partner violence victims

This study explored reasons why female intimate partner violence (IPV) victims seeking a protection order returned previously to a violent relationship and examined whether those reasons coincided with Domestic Violence -Civil Protection Order (DV-CPO) drop-out. Legal files closed between 2013 and 2019 from female IPV victims (N=404) who filed a DV-CPO petition in Franklin County, Ohio were analyzed using a mixed methods approach involving thematic analysis and t-tests. Reasons for returning previously to a violent relationship were captured by 17 themes identified in the data, including children, family, or parenting, batterer remorse, and emotional attachment. Number of times leaving or returning to a violent relationship did not impact final DV-CPO completion .Results suggest female IPV victims return to violent relationships for reasons not previously reported in IPV literature, including shared housing, retrieval of belongings, and pets.