Food insecurity and intimate partner violence against women: results from the California Women’s Health Survey

Abstract Objective To investigate the association between food insecurity and intimate partner violence in a population-based sample of heterosexual women. Design Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between three levels of food insecurity and intimate partner violence. Setting Data from 6 years of the California Women’s Health Survey. Subjects Randomly selected women (n 16 562) aged 18 years and older from the State of California, USA. Results We found: (i) that African-American women had a higher prevalence of food insecurity and were more likely to report severe intimate partner violence; (ii) a strong positive association between food insecurity and intimate partner violence; (iii) evidence of effect modification of the association between food insecurity and intimate partner violence by marital status; and (iv) higher odds of intimate partner violence among those reporting more severe food insecurity. Conclusions Food insecurity is an important risk indicator for intimate partner violence among women. Understanding the factors that put women, especially minority women, at greatest risk facilitates intervention development.

[1]  Lawrence Busch,et al.  Food Security in the United States , 2021 .

[2]  Kelly M. Socia,et al.  Economic Stress and Domestic Violence , 2015 .

[3]  Hugette Sun,et al.  Marriage and Divorce: Patterns by Gender, Race, and Educational Attainment , 2013 .

[4]  Alisha J. Coleman-Jensen,et al.  Household Food Security in the United States in 2012 , 2013 .

[5]  N. Woolf,et al.  Very low food security in the USA is linked with exposure to violence , 2013, Public Health Nutrition.

[6]  Brent A. Langellier,et al.  Nearly four million Californians are food insecure. , 2012, Policy brief.

[7]  Dayo T. Spencer-Walters.  Reinstate PROJECT GROW! Targeting Food Insecurity Among Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence , 2011 .

[8]  Luis Quintanilla.  Reductions in SNAP Increase Health Risks for Food Insecure Women , 2011 .

[9]  S. Mclanahan,et al.  Why are cohabiting relationships more violent than marriages? , 2006, Demography.

[10]  Paulina Broża-Grabowska.  Women’s Experience of Poverty in Context of Power Inequality and Financial Abuse in Intimate Relationship. , 2011 .

[11]  M. Clark,et al.  Evaluating the impact of non-response bias in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) , 2010, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

[12]  R. Caetano,et al.  Ethnicity and Health Disparities in Alcohol Research , 2010, Alcohol research & health : the journal of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

[13]  R. Reid,et al.  Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on Intimate Partner Violence , 2009, Violence and Victims.

[14]  A. Caspi,et al.  Mental Health Context of Food Insecurity: a Representative Cohort of Families With Young Children , 2009, Pediatrics.

[15]  Patricia Dixon.  Marriage Among African Americans: What Does the Research Reveal? , 2009 .

[16]  M. Bair-Merritt,et al.  Does Intimate Partner Violence Epidemiology Differ Between Homes With and Without Children? A Population-Based Study of Annual Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors , 2008, Journal of Family Violence.

[17]  N. A. Jackson.  Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence , 2007 .

[18]  A. Ramírez,et al.  Food security among California's low-income adults improves, but most severely affected do not share in improvement. , 2007, Policy brief.

[19]  L. Kaiser,et al.  Who is food-insecure in California? Findings from the California Women's Health Survey, 2004 , 2007, Public Health Nutrition.

[20]  R. Kimerling,et al.  Epidemiology and consequences of women's revictimization. , 2007, Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health.

[21]  R. Kimerling,et al.  Intimate partner violence and housing instability. , 2007, American journal of preventive medicine.

[22]  E. Power.  Economic Abuse and Intra-household Inequities in Food Security , 2006, Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique.

[23]  J. Neff,et al.  Spousal violence among Anglos, Blacks, and Mexican Americans: The role of demographic variables, psychosocial predictors, and alcohol consumption , 1995, Journal of Family Violence.

[24]  C. Field,et al.  Ethnic Differences in Intimate Partner Violence in the U.S. General Population , 2004, Trauma, violence & abuse.

[25]  J. E. Stets,et al.  The marriage license as a hitting license: A comparison of assaults in dating, cohabiting, and married couples , 1989, Journal of Family Violence.

[26]  Terrence D. Hill,et al.  Distal and Proximal Factors in Domestic Violence: A Test of an Integrated Model , 2003 .

[27]  A. Farmer,et al.  Explaining the Recent Decline in Domestic Violence , 2003 .

[28]  K. Hegarty,et al.  Prevalence and associations of partner abuse in women attending general practice: a cross‐sectional survey , 2002, Australian and New Zealand journal of public health.

[29]  Matthew D. Bramlett,et al.  Cohabitation, marriage, divorce, and remarriage in the United States. , 2002, Vital and health statistics. Series 23, Data from the National Survey of Family Growth.

[30]  A. Schirm,et al.  Household Food Security in the United States, 1995-1997: Technical Issues and Statistical Report , 2001 .

[31]  Richard M. Tolman,et al.  Domestic Violence in the Lives of Women Receiving Welfare , 2001 .

[32]  John Van Hoewyk,et al.  A multivariate technique for multiply imputing missing values using a sequence of regression models , 2001 .

[33]  R. Mckeown,et al.  Physical health consequences of physical and psychological intimate partner violence. , 2000, Archives of family medicine.

[34]  R. Briefel,et al.  The effectiveness of a short form of the Household Food Security Scale. , 1999, American journal of public health.

[35]  H. Resnick,et al.  The socioeconomic impact of interpersonal violence on women. , 1999, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[36]  J. Habicht,et al.  Food insecurity: consequences for the household and broader social implications. , 1999, The Journal of nutrition.

[37]  D. Rose.  Economic determinants and dietary consequences of food insecurity in the United States. , 1999, The Journal of nutrition.

[38]  Kristin L. Anderson,et al.  Gender, status and domestic violence: An integration of feminist and family violence approaches. , 1997 .

[39]  D. Sugarman,et al.  The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) , 1996 .

[40]  D. Saunders.  Procedures for Adjusting Self-Reports of Violence for Social Desirability Bias , 1991 .

[41]  C. Campbell.  Food insecurity: a nutritional outcome or a predictor variable? , 1991, The Journal of nutrition.