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Dimensions of Support Among Abused Women in the Workplace

  • Original Paper
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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

The authors draw on social support theory to examine supervisor support match (support wanted and received), support mismatch (support not wanted and received) and work outcomes for abused low-wage working women, and to determine if supervisor support match and mismatch are more strongly associated with work outcomes than global supervisor support Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a community sample of abused, employed women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) in the past year (N = 163). Using hierarchical regression, we found, after accounting for global supervisor support; a higher level of supervisor support match was associated with greater job satisfaction, fewer job reprimands and less job termination. Findings from the study inform theories of social support and have practical implications for workplace interventions for IPV.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (Dissertation Grant # 1 R49 CE000948-01; Parent study NIH/NINR R01 NR08771-03). Special acknowledgement goes to Leslie Hammer, José Padín, Robert Sinclair, and Wayne Wakeland for their discussions, constructive comments and insight on earlier versions of this article. We thank the Hacienda Community Development Corporation and the Volunteers of America Home Free in Portland, Oregon for assistance recruiting and conducting interviews with participants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington Department of Labor and Industries, SHARP Research, P.O. Box 44330, Olympia, WA, 98504-4330, USA

    Nanette L. Yragui

  2. Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR, 97207-0751, USA

    Eric S. Mankowski

  3. Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, 3800 N. Interstate Avenue, Portland, OR, 97227-1098, USA

    Nancy A. Perrin

  4. Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, 525 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Nancy E. Glass

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  1. Nanette L. Yragui
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  2. Eric S. Mankowski
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Correspondence to Nanette L. Yragui.

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Yragui, N.L., Mankowski, E.S., Perrin, N.A. et al. Dimensions of Support Among Abused Women in the Workplace. Am J Community Psychol 49, 31–42 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-011-9433-2

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