Abstract
We sought to determine whether intimate partner violence (IPV) risk factors differed depending upon the presence of children in the home, and to estimate the annual prevalence of IPV first in the general population and then in homes with and without children. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional random sample of 6,836 women in southeastern Pennsylvania interviewed by telephone in 2004. The magnitude of association between IPV and risk factors varied between homes with and without children for women’s alcohol problems (with children, odds ratio (OR) 7.7; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.9, 20.9; without children, OR 2.4; 95% CI 0.9, 6.0), and mental health problems (with children, OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.8, 8.9; without children, OR 3.0; 95% CI 1.6, 5.7). Poverty was significantly associated with IPV only in homes without children (OR 3.6; 95% CI 1.9, 7.2). Annual IPV prevalence was 1.2% overall, 1.4% in homes with children, and 1.1% in homes without children. One in 63 children lived in a home with IPV. Differences in IPV risk factors in homes with and without children suggest distinct underlying IPV mechanisms or consequences in these contexts.
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Acknowledgement
We would like to thank the staff at Philadelphia Health Management Corporation’s Community Health Data Base for their time and effort in collecting the data used within this manuscript. We also would like to thank the Institute for Safe Families (Philadelphia, PA) for their financial contribution to this work.
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Bair-Merritt, M.H., Holmes, W.C., Holmes, J.H. 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. J Fam Viol 23, 325–332 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-008-9154-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-008-9154-y