Poverty,Partner Abuse,and Women's Mental Health: New Knowledge for Better Practice

ABSTRACT.

To better understand how poverty and poor mental health impact women who are abused by intimate partners, a convenience sample of 300 abused women using shelters or justice services for the 1st time were interviewed. The 300 women were categorized as having no income, being above poverty, and being below poverty according to U.S. Poverty Guidelines. Results indicated that no direct effect of income on poor mental health was noted; however, an interaction between type and severity of abuse and income level had an impact on poor mental health. Abused women who were above poverty with the highest incomes reported the highest levels of depression in the presence of high physical and sexual abuse. In contrast, women reporting no income reported no significant effect of severity or type of abuse on depression scores. Women just above the poverty level who experienced severe abuse were at highest risk for mental health problems. Poverty impacts the mental health of abused women according to the degree of poverty and type and severity of abuse. More research is needed to specify programs to maximize the mental health functioning and economic solvency of abused women.