[235] in peace2
Half of All Women report Violent Relationships
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (F. AuYeung)
Sun Apr 30 02:23:46 2000
Message-Id: <200004300623.CAA08417@scrubbing-bubbles.mit.edu>
To: peace-women@MIT.EDU, peace-list@MIT.EDU
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 02:23:36 -0400
From: "F. AuYeung" <auyeung@MIT.EDU>
------- Forwarded Message
From: "Ozgur Basak Alkan" <boalkan@hotmail.com>
Subject: Half of all women report violent relationships
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 00:57:39 EEST
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 08:57:03 -0700
From: "Aman Bhandari" <abhandari@mailsvr.icon.palo-alto.med.va.gov>
Organization: HERC
Subject: Half of all women report violent relationships
I can't believe it took them this long to figure this out....
ab
American Journal of Public Health 2000;90;553-559.
NEW YORK, Apr 17 (Reuters Health) -- More than half of all American
women have experienced some sort of violence in their intimate
relationships, including physical abuse or psychological battering,
according to a new study.
"I was expecting half the numbers we found, and the thing that was
clearly the most surprising to us was the large proportion of women
who had ever experienced violence," said study co-author Dr. Ann
Coker of the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
Between February, 1997 and December, 1998, Coker and colleagues
interviewed over 1,400 women between the ages of 18 and 65. The
women had been in a relationship for at least 3 months and were
seeking medical attention at two clinics associated with the
university, according to a report in the April issue of the American
Journal of Public Health.
Overall, 55% of the women had experienced relationship violence,
including physical or sexual violence (77%) and nonphysical abuse
(23%).
Women who had experienced a violent relationship in the past were
more likely to experience violence in their current or most recent
relationship. A male partner's alcohol and drug use, as well as
unemployment in either partner was associated with violence. Women
who grew up in families in which a father physically or emotionally
abused their mother were at higher risks of experiencing intimate
partner violence, according to the report.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Coker pointed out that the
study was unique because it focused on a broader spectrum of abuse
than most studies on relationship violence.
"The majority of papers look at the women who are hit and beaten by
their partners, and not at the dynamic of the relationship -- and
that's what looking at battering is designed to do," she noted.
The women were given scenarios of psychological abuse so that the
researchers were able to screen for forms of abuse that are not as
clear as a bruise or black eye.
The women were asked to strongly agree or disagree with statements
such as 'He scares me without laying a hand on me' or 'He has a look
that goes straight through me.'
"These were not just put-downs -- this was much more dramatic than
that," Coker said.
Women at risk for abuse need to seek appropriate help and care.
"We're advocating that physicians or nurse practitioners should
universally screen women for partner violence," she said. "And
we'd like to do it in a primary care setting because in that setting
they're not going specifically for the violence -- as they do in an
hospital setting -- so that situation may not be as stressful.''
SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health 2000;90;553-559.
_______________________________________
Aman Bhandari, MPH
Research Associate
VA Medical Center - Palo Alto
HSR&D Health Economics Resource Center
795 Willow Road (152 MPD)
Menlo Park, CA 94025
------- End of Forwarded Message
there will also be a Mother's March in downtown Boston on May 15 from
11am to 2pm; more information will be available soon, or contact the
source at <WkgMass@aol.com> or (617)482-4471. this action is supported
by over 30 organizations as of late April. ~Felix
