Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1999

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Social Work

Major Professor

Catherine Faver

Committee Members

Judith Fiene, William R. Nugent, Greer L. Fox

Abstract

A conservative estimate of violence toward women in the United States is that more than two million women are battered every year, 32 percent of whom are revictimized within six months. These statistics make the consequences of battering a significant health problem for women. Early population surveys and clinical studies found that many women were pregnant at the time of battering, yet few studies specifically explored battering in prenatal populations. Significant findings in these studies include rates of physical violence ranging from 4 percent to 17 percent and outcomes such as inadequate prenatal care, low-birthweight infants, fetal injury, and maternal and fetal deaths.The purpose of this study was to identify factors related to women's experiences of physical battering during pregnancy. A purposive sampling for heterogeneity strategy was used. The sample consisted of 160 third-trimester prenatal patients receiving care in two family practice clinics in a large metropolitan area (approximately one million people). Eachwoman was surveyed once using three measures. Demographic, socioeconomic, relationship,and attitudinal characteristics of battered and non-battered pregnant women were explored to determine differences between these two groups. It was found that almost two-fifths of the women reported battering during the past year. Over one-fourth of the women who reported battering during the past year reported that they were battered during their current pregnancy.Logistic regression and discriminant analysis procedures were used. Analysis indicated a good model fit (chi square=33.615, p=.0023, df=14). The logistic regression model correctly classified 75.52 percent of all women (kappa = .38, p<.000). An important but i'm expected finding was that almost half of the battered women reported battering only by someone other than partners. Two major Factors differentiating women battered only by partners from women battered only by someone else were forced sex by partners and forced sex by someone else. Eighty-seven percent of the women requested to speak with their doctors about the violence they were e)q)eriencing. None of these women had previously identified themselves as experiencing violence. These findings underscore the importance of continued research into battering during pregnancy and suggest an important and routine activity for social work practitioners. Much like we believe screening for child abuse is essential, we must also begin to understand and support routine screening for violence toward women.

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