Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Purpose: At the time of welfare reform in the United States in 1996, advocates of women with abusive partners were concerned that violence might escalate in response to the requirement that women work in order to receive benefits. There were concerns that the end of welfare might eliminate a safety net that could enable women to leave abusive relationships, and abusers might increase violence in response to women's greater independence resulting from their employment. Men might sabotage women's attempts to become economically self-sufficient. Abuse and poor mental health have been linked to unemployment, underemployment, chronic dependence on welfare, and lost workplace productivity.

Methods: This paper presents the results of a longitudinal study conducted over a three-year period of 965 Illinois mothers who had received public assistance. The Illinois Families Study (IFS) is a longitudinal study with a random stratified sample of women from nine counties who were receiving welfare in June of 1998. These nine counties represented 75% of the TANF caseload of Illinois and included Cook and Peoria Counties. The IFS response rate for Year 1 was 72%. Violence exposure was measured with multiple instruments including the WEB (Women's Experience with Battering), a brief questionnaire about psychological abuse, and the revised Conflict Tactics Scale. Forty percent of the women reported physical or psychological abuse.

Results: Results indicate that recent (but not past) intimate partner violence is associated with women working fewer months. The “recent-only” group of abused women showed the least stable employment, and only 37.3% worked any of the time in contrast to the “past abuse” group who worked 54.5% of the time. Complex associations over time between obstacles to employment and women's ability to maintain work highlight the need for longitudinal studies of employment among low-income women.

Implications: Findings that women with a past abuse history, but who are not in abusive relationships, show high rates of employment despite past barriers point in the direction of women's potential resilience.