[WITHDRAWN] Economic Resilience and Poly-Strengths Among Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

Background and Purpose: The bidirectional relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and economic instability is well-documented. Despite this, research has shown that survivors of IPV are resilient, including in the way in which the manage their financial circumstances despite challenges. This study builds on Grych et al.’s (2015) Resilience Portfolio Model – a conceptual framework designed to understand protective factors that enable survivors of trauma to adapt and thrive – to identify whether economic resilience-based strengths are associated with positive outcomes among survivors. Economic resilience refers to the ability of individuals to absorb financial shocks and innovate in response to them. The purpose of the study was to examine whether economic resilience-based strengths and poly-strengths are associated with positive outcomes after controlling for adversities, resources, and sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: The data used for this analysis were collected in July 2022 using Qualtrics Research Services (n=571). Participants were age 18 or older, resided in the United States, were women-identifying, and screened positive for IPV. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were used to identify if any economic resilience-based strengths or poly-strengths were associated with thriving in the areas of physical health, mental health, or economic self-sufficiency. Thriving for each outcome was scored as ≥.5 standard deviations above the mean for standardized scores. Poly-strengths was defined as the total number of strengths each participant reported above average levels (>.5 SD). Six economic-based strengths were included in analyses: coping, economic self-efficacy, financial knowledge, future orientation, social support available, and support seeking behaviors.

Results: The first model looked at the outcome of physical health. Although no poly-strengths were significant in this model, coping (OR=2.10), economic self-efficacy (OR=1.71), and future orientation (OR=1.61) were all significantly associated with positive perceptions of physical health. No resilience portfolio strengths were statistically significant in the second model, in which mental health was the outcome. The outcome variable in the third model was economic self-sufficiency. Economic self-efficacy was associated with greater odds of economic self-sufficiency (OR=2.96), as was the presence of poly-strengths (OR=1.37).

Conclusions and Implications: This was one of the first studies to look at how a range of economic resilience-based strengths, collectively termed poly-strengths, influence the well-being of survivors of IPV. While poly-strengths were not significantly associated with health-related outcomes, they were associated with greater odds of economic self-sufficiency. Notably, economic self-efficacy (i.e., confidence in one’s ability to engage in economic tasks) was positively associated with physical health and economic self-sufficiency. While interventions focused on increasing IPV survivors’ tangible resources (e.g., asset building, credit building, micro-loans) are critical for survivors and should be prioritized, programs aimed at targeting survivors’ confidence in managing financial tasks may also be effective at increasing survivors’ economic well-being, in the absence of or in conjunction with, other resource-based programs. Intervention programs should also aim to enhance survivors’ strengths, such as positive coping strategies and self-care. Future studies can also build on this exploratory work by identifying and testing the contributions of other economic resilience-based strengths in promoting positive outcomes.