NCJ Number
228796
Journal
Trauma, Violence, and Abuse Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2009 Pages: 306-329
Date Published
October 2009
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article describes mental health consequences for women who contend with both intimate partner violence and poverty.
Abstract
A number of prospective studies demonstrate that past exposure to violence predisposes women to unemployment and poverty and that poverty further increases women's risk for subsequent victimization. Research proposes that the stress, powerlessness, and social isolation at the heart of both intimate partner violence (IPV) and poverty combine to produce posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and other emotional difficulties. Although this article synthesizes disparate domains of scholarship to describe the impact of domestic violence and poverty, respectively, few studies have investigated directly the experience of women caught in the nexus of the two. With uncharted terrain, change is likely to be difficult with challenges and obstacles. It is critical that mental health providers and researchers need to work to better understand the dangerous intersection of IPV and persistent poverty, create more humane and effective responses, and develop support structures and policies to enable frontline providers to support IPV survivors. Table, notes, and references