NCJ Number
217341
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2007 Pages: 123-140
Date Published
February 2007
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined the factors contributing to the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) among rural, southern Latinas in North Carolina.
Abstract
Results indicated that the lifetime prevalence of IPV among the rural Latina sample was 19.5 percent, similar to that of non-Latina populations. Latinas who experienced IPV were more likely to lack social support and to have children in the home than non-Latinas who experienced IPV and Latinas who did not experience IPV. Latinas who experienced IPV were less likely to have other adults living in the home than Latinas who did not experience IPV but were more likely to be acculturated, have greater command of the English language, and to have lived longer in the United States. The findings suggest that social service providers serving rural Latinas need to make appropriate support resources available and should work toward building their social support networks. Participants were 1,266 Latina employees at 12 blue-collar work sites in rural North Carolina. Participants completed an 83-item questionnaire that measured social and demographic characteristics, health status, health behaviors, and experience of IPV. Questionnaires were offered in English and Spanish and were either self-administered or were orally administered in a face-to-face interview. Data were analyzed using SAS/STAT software, version 8.02 of the SAS system for Windows and included descriptive analyses as well as multivariate logit analysis. Future research should draw on larger samples of Latina women to further explore the relationship among IPV and acculturation, social support, household structure, and other demographic characteristics of rural Latinas living in the southern region of the United States. Tables, references