NCJ Number
176571
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: Winter 1998 Pages: 361-375
Date Published
1998
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Data from a national survey conducted in 1992 were used to examine the help-seeking efforts of Hispanic and white women who experienced battering by intimate partners.
Abstract
The national study used personal interviews to gather information on the relationships between family violence and alcohol. The national probability sample of 1,970 persons included an oversample of 846 Latinos and involved persons living as a couple with a member of the opposite sex. Either the male or the female was interviewed in each household. The overall response rate was 75.4 percent. The Hispanic women included Mexican, Mexican American, and Puerto Rican women. Battered Latina women were significantly younger, less educated, and more impoverished than were white women. In additionally, the Latinas more often categorized their marriages as male dominated and their husbands as heavy drinkers. Bivariate analyses revealed that Latinas who sought help were significantly more acculturated and more likely to have a heavy drinking husband than were those who did not seek help. In addition, although battered women were active help seekers, Latinas underused both informal and formal resources relative to white women; Mexican women were the least likely to seek assistance. An analysis of sociodemographic predictors of help seeking revealed that being youthful and white significantly increased the odds of help-seeking efforts. Low acculturation, as measured by preference for the Spanish language, was the only significant cultural barrier to help seeking by Latinas. Findings indicated the need for improved outreach and advocacy to underserved groups. Tables and 42 references (Author abstract modified)