Violence against women in selected areas of the United States
Citation: Montgomery BE, Rompalo A, Hughes J, Wang J, Haley D, Soto-Torres L, Chege W, Justman J, Kuo I, Golin C, Frew P, Mannheimer S, Hodder S. Violence against women in selected areas of the United States. Am J Public Health. 2015 Oct;105(10):2156-66. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302430. Epub 2015 Mar 19.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25790408
OBJECTIVES:
We determined the prevalence of recent emotional, physical, and sexual violence against women and their associations with HIV-related risk factors in women living in the United States.
METHODS:
We performed an assessment of women ages 18 to 44 years with a history of unprotected sex and 1 or more personal or partner HIV risk factors in the past 6 months from 2009 to 2010. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine the association of experiencing violence.
RESULTS:
Among 2099 women, the prevalence of emotional abuse, physical violence, and sexual violence in the previous 6 months was 31%, 19%, and 7%, respectively. Nonmarried status, food insecurity, childhood abuse, depression symptomology, and posttraumatic stress disorder were significantly associated with multiple types of violence. All types of violence were associated with at least 3 different partner or personal HIV risk behaviors, including unprotected anal sex, previous sexually transmitted infection diagnosis, sex work, or partner substance abuse.
CONCLUSIONS:
Our data suggested that personal and partner HIV risk behaviors, mental illness, and specific forms of violence frequently co-occurred in the lives of impoverished women. We shed light on factors purported to contribute to a syndemic in this population. HIV prevention programs in similar populations should address these co-occurring issues in a comprehensive manner.