Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread and prevalent problem globally. It is estimated that one in three women and one in five men are victims of IPV at some point in their life (World Health Organization, 2021). In 2019, this problem generated >80 thousand deaths worldwide, 4.12 million years of life lost due to premature death and 4.38 million years of life lost due to disability (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2020). In addition, this prevalence is lower in countries with a higher economic income (23.2%) compared to low- and middle-income countries (24.6–37.7%) such as Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) (World Health Organization, 2013).

In LAC countries, the proportion of women who report IPV at some point in their life, whether physical, sexual, or both, ranges from approximately 14% in Brazil to 58.5% in Bolivia (Bott et al., 2021). Additionally, in 2016 the prevalence of physical or sexual IPV or both by the partner was reported to be from 2.7% in Argentina to 27.1% in Bolivia (Bott et al., 2021). In LAC countries, it is observed that women who have an accepting attitude towards IPV are those who do not live in urban areas, have limited education, have a low socioeconomic level and practice some type of religion (Bucheli and Rossi, 2019). In 2019, the rate of women in Peru who had experienced physical and/or sexual violence in recent months was 10.6%; likewise, this same population reported a prevalence of psychological, physical and/or sexual violence of 57.7% at some point during their adulthood (Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática, 2020b). There are currently some public policies in Peru aimed at protecting vulnerable populations and developing programs to combat IPV.

One of the factors associated with IPV is violence during childhood (Godbout et al., 2019). Thus, children who have experienced child abuse may learn to perceive violent interactions as normal and appropriate and justify the acceptance of violence in intimate relationships as adults. This phenomenon is known as revictimization, which is intergenerational (Burelomova et al., 2018). Parks et al. found that the risk of revictimization was almost three times higher in women with compared to those without a history of child abuse (Parks et al., 2011). Likewise, the four types of child abuse (physical, psychological, sexual abuse and neglect) have been significantly associated with IPV victimization (Li et al., 2019). For this reason, it is important to identify and describe child abuse in populations, since it has been shown that IPV and abuse are associated conditions.

LAC is one of the regions with the highest prevalence of IPV and child abuse (Devries et al., 2013; Hillis et al., 2016). Despite this, few studies have evaluated the association between IPV and child abuse in this region. In Peru, it is estimated that approximately 80% of children and adolescents have, at some time, been victims of physical and/or psychological violence (Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática, 2016). For this reason, the objective of this study was to evaluate the association of physical abuse in childhood and intimate partner violence in women of childbearing age. The results of this study could help to develop strategies at an early age and mitigate the prevalence of violence from childhood.