My Partner's Violence Cannot Deter Me from Getting Better: Evidence of Self-Efficacy, Help-Seeking Behaviors and Mental Health Correlates Among Black Women Under Community Supervision in New York City

Background and Purpose: Black/African American (AA) women are disproportionately affected by Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in the United States. Nearly 40.9% of Black/AA women have been victims of physical, verbal and/or sexual violence by a current or former sexual partner (Black et al., 2011). Female incarceration has increased by 700% in the last 30 years (The Sentencing Project, 2015) and women involved in the criminal justice system are particularly at risk for IPV. The incidence of IPV among this vulnerable population is a significant public health hazard. However, drivers of IPV among Black/AA women under community corrections remain understudied.  

Study Design: We used baseline interview data collected from among 191 women, in a randomized controlled trial testing the feasibility, safety and efficacy of an IPV victimization intervention named Project WINGS: ‘Women Initiating New Goals Safety’. Bivariate associations were analyzed with physical, sexual and verbal IPV as the dependent variables tested for their associations to baseline factors including substance use (drug use and/or binge drinking), anxiety/depression scores, history of utilizing IPV services, level of IPV self-efficacy among other variables in the overall sample and specifically in the sub-sample of Black/AA substance-using women (n=128), recruited from community correction sites in New York City.

Results: Data were analyzed for a subgroup of 128 Black/AA female participants who reported recent IPV. Among these women, the past year prevalence rates of experiencing IPV was significantly higher than the rest of the participants. Physical IPV was reported in 42.9% of the women, while 30.4% reported sexual and 72.6% reported psychological IPV in the past 12 months. Additionally, at baseline, Black/AA who experienced sexual or verbal IPV reported seeking IPV support services (r=.130; .122; p<.05) and had a significantly lower IPV self-efficacy (r=-.261; p<.01) but higher than their depressed (r=-.197;p<.01) and comparable to their anxious (r=-.234;p<.01) counterparts . Further, higher the instance of physical or sexual IPV, lower was the level of IPV self-efficacy.

Conclusions: Prevalence of all types of IPV was high (sexual, physical and psychological) and our findings show that IPV is associated with substance abuse, and poor mental health. However, despite such challenges, women exhibit a high level of help-seeking behavior, and if healthy, are more self-efficacious. Community corrections settings may be optimal venues to launch IPV prevention interventions that have potential to reach and engage an ever-growing number of Black/ African American substance-using women.