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27 J. Fam. Violence 1 (2012)

handle is hein.journals/jfamv27 and id is 1 raw text is: J Fam Viol (2012) 27:1-10 DOI 10.1007/s10896-011-9398-9 ORI(\INAL ARTICLE Life Stress as Mediator of the Childhood Maltreatment - Intimate Partner Violence Link in Low-Income, African American Women Meghna N. Patel - Jeshmin Bhaju- Martie P. Thompson - Nadine J. Kaslow Published online: 8 September 2011 C Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Abstract This study examined the relations between childhood maltreatment, daily life hassles, and intimate partner violence among low-income, suicidal, abused African American women (N=208). Findings indicated a significant association between childhood maltreatment and intimate partner violence, such that women who experienced childhood maltreatment were more likely to experience intimate partner violence as adults than those who reported no childhood maltreatment history. Also, results from bootstrapping analyses revealed that daily life stressors mediated the link between childhood maltreat- ment and both physical and nonphysical forms of intimate partner violence. These findings highlight the importance of thoroughly assessing for a history of childhood maltreatment, current intimate partner violence, and the nature and extent of daily hassles when working with low- income African American women, as well as helping abused women with a history of childhood maltreatment to cope effectively with the daily life hassles that they encounter. Keywords Childhood maltreatment . Intimate partner violence - Daily hassles - Life stress - African American M. N. Patel - J. Bhaju - N. J. Kaslow (W) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Grady Health System, 80 Jesse Hill Jr Drive, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA e-mail: nkaslow@emory.edu M. P. Thompson Department of Public Health Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pattern of physical, emotional, and/or sexual violence and economic intimidation by an intimate partner in the context of coercive control (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000). IPV can be categorized as non- physical IPV (IPV-NP), which constitutes verbal/emotional abuse, and physical IPV (IPV-P), which include physical abuse of both sexual and nonsexual types. It is a major public health concern; five million women experience IPV each year and 20% to 38% of women are victims of IPV during their lifetime (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000). Abused women have higher healthcare costs than women without an IPV history (Rivara et al. 2007); IPV costs health care systems more than $44 million annually (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control 2003). Tables 1 and 2 IPV has been documented across all racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. However, rates of self-reported IPV are high among African American women and women from low socioeconomic status backgrounds (U.S. Department of Justice 1998). In one nationally representative study examin- ing IPV in the African American community, data indicated that compared to White women, African American women are 1.23 times and more than two times more likely to experience minor and severe violence, respectively (Hampton and Gelles 1994). More recent studies found that compared to their White counterparts, African American women are 35% more likely to be survivors of IPV (West 2004) and up to 23% of African American couples report IPV (Caetano et al. 2001). African American women are at increased risk for intimate partner femicide, near-fatal assaults, and severe injury (Campbell et al. 2002; Lee et al. 2002; Sullivan et al. 1994). African American women particularly vulnerable to IPV are those living in poverty (Cunradi et al. 2000). Abused women are at higher risk than non-abused women for mental health problems, including anxiety problems such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and e Springer

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