NCJ Number
219586
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 13 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2007 Pages: 653-675
Date Published
July 2007
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study identified risk factors for sexual, physical, and verbal abuse among Vietnamese-American women.
Abstract
Results indicated that men’s domination in decisionmaking was an important predictor of physical and verbal abuse among Vietnamese women. Other factors significantly related to abuse among Vietnamese women included disagreements about gender roles and family life and dependency on partner to manage the English language and gain immigration status. Special risk factors emerged for Vietnamese women who were sexually abused, including being a “picture bride” and a lack of a social network or other resources. The findings thus suggest that abused Vietnamese women were in relationships in which the men were dominant and, for sexual abuse, had imported their wives as picture brides. The results also point to the need for better communication regarding laws that provide for abused immigrants an opportunity to remain in the United States. Participants were 129 Vietnamese women recruited via purposive sampling from a city with a large Vietnamese population. Participants known to be in abusive relationships were recruited from a domestic violence shelter and advocacy program and from several health centers that served the local Vietnamese population. A comparison group of 129 women were recruited via snowball sampling from civic associations and cultural clubs. All participants completed in-depth interviews regarding their experiences living in abusive relationships, partner’s influence on decisionmaking, frequency of conflict regarding traditional gender roles and family life, perceived financial and emotional support from friends and family, capacity to manage the English language, and degree of dependency on partner to manage English. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate regression models. Tables, notes, references