Ecological models of violence center on systems (micro, meso, and macro) surrounding personal history of violence, but few studies properly assess the effects of personal history on the likelihood of victimization. Using the Peruvian Demographic and Health Survey (N = 74,204), we examine the effect personal history of violence has on the likelihood of recent intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. We extend the literature by breaking this history matters position into two causal mechanisms: inter-parental violence during childhood (father abused mother) and prior IPV as an adult. We account for the recognized heterogeneity of women experiencing violence by separating our sample into groups of women in vulnerability (based on assault severity and sexual victimization). Our results confirm that personal history matters, but in different ways. While inter-parental violence produces a persistence effect (intergenerational transmission of violence), prior IPV opens the door for the strategic use of violence and hence produces a perpetuating effect.