Social Capital Effects on the Relation between Neighborhood Characteristics and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization
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Social Capital Effects on the Relation between Neighborhood Characteristics and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization among Women Laura A. Voith
&
Razia Azen & Weidi Qin
# The New York Academy of Medicine 2020
Abstract Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a public health issue plaguing families and communities in the USA. Despite considerable research devoted to individuallevel factors affecting IPV and a smaller body of ecological IPV research, few studies explore the interaction between individual-level protective factors and neighborhood- or community-level factors in predicting the incidents of IPV among women. Moreover, most IPV studies utilize a unidimensional approach for social capital, despite strong empirical and theoretical support for a multi-dimensional conceptualization. In a sample of heterosexual women in the USA (N = 1884), we found that concentrated disadvantage, social and physical disorder, and community violence together significantly predicted increased rates of IPV victimization. Concentrated disadvantage and higher scores on the social capital index independently predicted a lower probability of victimization. Moderating effects were found for social capital: the protective effects of social capital on the probability of IPV were attenuated for those reporting community violence compared with women who did not report it. These L. A. Voith (*) Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA e-mail: [email protected] R. Azen School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, USA W. Qin Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA
findings enhance the field’s understanding of the synergistic relationship between individual- and neighborhoodlevel factors, providing important implications for community-based IPV interventions. Keywords Intimate partner violence . Social capital . Community violence . Neighborhood
Physical or sexual violence or psychological harm between current or previous romantic partners constitutes intimate partner violence (IPV) [1], which is one common form of gender-based violence and a significant public health issue. In the USA, an estimated 15.8% of women experienced sexual violence by an intimate partner, and 22.3% of women experienced severe physical violence during their lifetimes [2]. Approximately 14% of all homicides in the USA are committed by intimate partners, with women accounting for 70% of IPV homicide victims [3]. Aside from death, there are serious physical health and psychosocial consequences associated with IPV among women, including poor health status [4], depression [5, 6], post-traumatic stress [3], low quality of life [7], and high utilization of health care services [3, 4]. Though IPV reaches all aspects of society, young people (i.e., ages 18 to 24) [3] and individuals experiencing food and housing insecurity at greater risk of IPV victimization [2]. One potential determinant of IPV victimization is neighborhood environment. A wide array of studies report
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