‘Sleeping with the enemy’: a cross-sectional study on psychological and emotional violence among couples living in Portugal during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective This study aimed to evaluate psychological and emotional violence in relation with sociodemographic characteristics and anxiety and depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of Portuguese residents. Methods A cross-sectional online study using snowball sampling collected data on demographics, socioeconomic factors, mental health (anxiety and depression symptoms) and couple psychological and emotional violence. The study spanned three months and included 519 individuals aged 18 or above in a relationship since January 2020 or earlier. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, t-tests, chi-squared tests, logistic regression models (Odds-Ratio [OR] and 95% Confident Interval [CI]), and cluster analysis (K-medoids) using R software (significance threshold of 0.05). Results The sample was predominantly composed of women (78.8%) with an average age of 36.8 years and 79% holding higher education degrees. Two clusters emerged: Cluster 1 (n = 420) presented fewer psychological and emotional violence victims, while Cluster 2 (n = 99) presented more. Older age (OR = 1.026, 95%CI 1.000–1.052) and depression symptoms (OR = 1.163, 95%CI 1.080–1.252) increased the likelihood of psychological and emotional abuse. Men also had 2.87 times higher odds of being victims (95%CI 0.203–0.599). Conclusions The study underscores the need for comprehensive interventions and prevention measures to address psychological and emotional violence by acknowledging it as a public health concern and pushing for interdisciplinary methods.