Purpose: Few studies are available that assess the long-term impact of domestic violence on economic outcomes such as employment and welfare use. Further research has been called for that addresses proximal and distal effects of violence, as well as understanding whether these effects are mediated or moderated by the mental health sequelae of abuse. The present study uses prospective longitudinal data spanning 10 years to evaluate the short and long-term effects of cumulative domestic violence experienced during the transition from adolescence to adulthood on later employment and welfare use. We assess work and welfare outcomes before and after the implementation of welfare reform.

Method: This research uses prospective data from a study of 234 adolescent mothers recruited from community settings. The sample used for this study is racially diverse. Cumulative domestic violence is measured using the Conflict Tactics Scale, and is defined as physical abuse or threat of physical abuse from an intimate partner from pregnancy (average age = 16.16) through five years post-partum (on average 22 years old). Concurrent psychological distress is measured using the global severity index from the Brief Symptom Inventory during the time periods where employment and welfare use are assessed (1995 and 1998). Tests of mediating and moderating hypotheses were run using logistic regression to predict the likelihood of working or welfare use before and after implementation of welfare reform.

Results: Descriptive results show initially high levels of domestic violence and welfare use during adolescence that sharply decline in adulthood. In the first stage of analysis, we found that domestic violence increased the odds of unemployment after welfare reform, but not prior to the reform; domestic violence had no direct effect on welfare use at either time period. Psychological distress after welfare reform was associated with unemployment, but not welfare outcomes. Thus, we tested a mediational model, and found that the direct effect of domestic violence on unemployment after welfare reform was not mediated by concurrent level of psychological distress. Next, we examined if the relationship between psychological distress and unemployment was different for those with a history of domestic violence. A test of moderation indicated that the relationship of psychological distress to unemployment existed only for those with a history of domestic violence.

Implications: These results demonstrate that cumulative domestic violence during the transition to adulthood decreased the likelihood of working post-welfare reform. These effects are attributable to some aspect of domestic violence other than its most common mental health sequelae, since psychological distress did not mediate the effects of domestic violence on unemployment. Moreover, we confirmed that a history of domestic violence moderated the concurrent effects of psychological distress on unemployment. These findings indicate that cumulative domestic violence can have negative effects on economic capacity many years after the violence occurred, suggesting that policymakers recognize the long-term nature of the impact of domestic violence on women's capacity to be economically self-reliant. These findings also raise the possibility that changes in federal welfare policy had unintended consequences for employment for battered women.