NCJ Number
241799
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 26 Issue: 10 Dated: July 2011 Pages: 2004-2024
Date Published
July 2011
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study focused on understanding intimate partner victimization and associations with sleep disturbance.
Abstract
Intimate partner violence victimization has been associated with serious health problems among women, including many disorders that involve sleep disturbances. However, there has been only limited examination of sleep duration among women with victimization experiences. A total of 756 women with a domestic violence order (DVO) against a male intimate partner were interviewed about their health, mental health, substance use, and partner violence victimization. Face-to-face interviews were conducted from February 2001 to November 2003 for data collection in three rural and one urban county representing different jurisdictional settings. Because the current analyses focused on understanding intimate partner victimization in the past year and associations with sleep disturbance, 147 participants were excluded for reporting a relationship with the DVO partner for less than 6 months in the past year. The final sample for this article was 609. The women reported an average of a little above 5.5 hours of sleep per night. For women in the current study, significant predictors of sleep disturbance included race, number of children, number of other symptoms of depression in the past 2 weeks excluding sleep criteria, number of other symptoms of PTSD in the past 2 weeks excluding sleep criteria, number of chronic physical health problems, and severity of physical violence by the DVO partner in the past year. Addressing short sleep duration among partner victims in health care settings might enhance safety planning and prevent the development of health/mental health problems that can arise from victimization. Abstract published by arrangement with Sage Journals.