Welfare Reform: Prescription for Abuse? A Report on New Research Studies Documenting the Relationship of Domestic Violence and Welfare

• NCJ Number: 180106
• Journal: Law & Policy Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: April 1997 Pages: 123-137
• Author(s): Jody Raphael
• Editor(s): Keith Hawkins, Murray Levine
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 15 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: This article relies on the 1997 research compilation produced by Taylor Institute and the University of Michigan Research Development Center on Poverty, Risk and Mental Health, "Trapped by Poverty/Trapped by Abuse."

Annotation

This article summarizes and compares data from four new major studies of the relationship of domestic violence and welfare receipt, draws some preliminary conclusions about what is known in this area and what needs to be known, and discusses the implications of this research for welfare policy.

Abstract

The four research studies are the Passaic County (New Jersey) study of AFDC recipients in a welfare-to-work program (December 1995 and January 1997); "In Harm's Way," a measurement of both current and past prevalence of domestic violence in Massachusetts (1997); the Worcester Family Research Project (Massachusetts) between August 1992 and July 1995; and The Effects of Violence on Women's Employment (Chicago) between September 1994 and May 1995. These four studies present consistent prevalences of domestic violence in welfare samples. Many welfare women, despite domestic violence, do not suffer from physical and mental health problems; the studies show, however, that a significant percentage do. All four studies found high levels of physical and mental health problems among those women who have experienced domestic violence. Although some of these problems could be caused by poverty as well as domestic violence, the fact that violence victims are overrepresented suggests that there are additive effects for violence. Anecdotally, welfare-to-work programs have documented that domestic violence serves as a barrier to work due to the abusive partner's interference with education, training, and work, or the physical or mental trauma that impedes compliance with employment requirements. Although much more needs to be known in this area, the prevalence of domestic violence in welfare women's lives requires specific domestic violence-sensitive welfare policies. 6 tables, 7 notes, and 15 references