sentences:  Studies in the 1990s showed that both men and women could be abusers or victims of domestic violence.Women are more likely to act violently in retaliation or self-defense and tend to engage in less severe forms of violence than men whereas men are more likely to commit long-term cycles of abuse than women.The World Health Organization (WHO) defines intimate partner violence as "any behaviour within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship".