Childhood Maltreatment, Intimate Partner Violence, Work Interference and Women's Employment

• NCJ Number: 235340
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 26 Issue: 4 Dated: May 2011 Pages: 255-261
• Author(s): Pamela C. Alexander
• Date Published: May 2011
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the long-term effects of childhood maltreatment, intimate partner violence (IPV) and work interference on women's employment.

Abstract

This study examined the long-term effects of childhood maltreatment, intimate partner violence (IPV) and work interference on women's employment in a sample of 135 housed or homeless women. Work interference (defined as a partner's interference with or restraint of a woman's working) was reported by 60 percent of women who had experienced IPV and was more common among non-Hispanic White women. Abuse history of any type was not predictive of women's employment or receiving job training, but child sexual abuse history and lifetime IPV were predictive of non-Hispanic White women's not looking for a job. Receiving job training was negatively correlated with women's current mental health. The study suggests different but overlapping pathways to the outcome of underemployment for racial/ethnic minority and majority womennamely, macro level factors and individual vulnerability factors, respectively. The need for trauma-informed services for unemployed and/or homeless women is highlighted. (Published Abstract)