Lorraine Davies

Modelling the effects of intimate partner violence and access to resources on women's health in the early years after leaving an abusive partner ☆

Although the negative health effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) are well documented, little is known about the mechanisms or determinants of health outcomes for women who had left their abusive partners. Using data collected from a community sample of 309 Canadian women who left an abusive partner, we examined whether womens personal, social and economic resources mediate the relationships between the severity of past IPV and current health using structural equation modelling. A good fit was found between the model and data for hypothesized models of mental and physical health. In the mental health model, both the direct and total indirect effects of IPV were significant. In the physical health model, the direct effect of IPV on physical health was about four times as large as the total indirect effects. In both models, more severe past IPV was associated with lower health and womens personal, social, and economic resources, when combined, mediated the relationship between IPV and health. These findings demonstrate that the health outcomes of IPV for women who have left an abusive partner must be understood in context of womens resources.

Sibling Ties in Later Life A Social Network Analysis

Using data from a study of 678 adults aged 55 and older, this article examines the role of siblings in four social support networks: confidants, companions, emotional support, and instrumental support, with a particular focus on the impact of gender and marital status on their role. Two types of analyses are used: probability analysis to determine the likelihood of specifying a given tie as a network member and compositional analysis of network membership. Three models of support (hierarchical compensatory, task specificity, functional specificity of relationships) are used to discuss the significant results regarding the probability of including a sibling in each network and the dominance of siblings in the overall composition of each network. The single, especially women, the childless, and widowed women stand out as having particularly involved sibling ties. Greatest support is found for the functional specificity model and for the value of combining probability and compositional analyses.

Leaving ≠ Moving Housing Patterns of Women Who Have Left an Abusive Partner

Access to safe and affordable housing is a key concern for women leaving abusive partners. Yet little is known about women’s housing patterns around leaving. In this community sample, approximately equal numbers of women did not move, moved once, and moved two or more times during the transition period around leaving. Overall, moving patterns were associated with housing type and suitability, economic circumstances, and severity of violence. This study calls into question the tendency to equate leaving with moving, draws attention to the different housing patterns after leaving, and highlights the need to tailor housing supports to diverse women.

Patterns of Cumulative Abuse Among Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence Links to Women’s Health and Socioeconomic Status

Drawing on the Women’s Health Effects Study, a community sample of women (N = 309) who recently left an abusive partner, this study examines patterns of cumulative abuse experiences over the life course, their socioeconomic correlates, and associations with a range of health outcomes. Latent class analysis identified four groups of women with differing cumulative abuse profiles: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Dominant, Child Abuse and IPV, All Forms, and All Forms Extreme. We find a relationship pattern between cumulative abuse and socioeconomic circumstances, and significantly worse health outcomes among women with the All Forms Extreme profile. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The Significance of Family, Work, and Power Relations for Mothers' Mental Health

The connections among employment and family conditions, gender, and psychological distress are examined using a power relations framework with a sample of mothers. We consider how broader societal conditions impact on mothers lives to differentially shape their opportunities and rewards, and therefore their distress. Employment, as well as income and control, benefit mothers mental health. Single parenthood per se is not a risk factor for distress. Rather, increased childcare strain, the lack of adequate financial resources and the employment opportunities associated with lone-motherhood disadvantage these women.

Family structure and mothers’ mental health: A life course perspective on stability and change☆

Abstract We describe how a life course perspective can be used to examine the intersection of various patterns of stability or change in family structure over the life course with womens trajectories of psychological distress. Our approach in this chapter addresses both conceptual issues and methodological developments that we believe can advance our understanding of the intricate interplay between social structure and mental health over the life course. With information derived from life history calendars and a 14-year longitudinal study of a large sample of single and married mothers, we demonstrate how latent class cluster analysis can be used to construct trajectories of both family structure and psychological distress. We contend that such trajectories capture the dynamics of change over the life course. We conclude with a discussion of the ways in which four kinds of experiences may assist us in explaining variations in these trajectories. We argue that adversities in childhood and adolescence, precocious role transitions, early onset of depression, and the operant burden of stress each play important roles in influencing trajectories of family structure and psychological distress.

Identifying Factors that Predict Women's Inability to Maintain Separation from an Abusive Partner

In this study, the extent to which nine indicators of intrusion (i.e., unwanted interference in everyday life) predicted the odds of women maintaining separation from an abusive partner was examined using data from a community sample of 286 Canadian women. Higher levels of depression and PTSD symptoms significantly and independently increased womens risk of being unable to maintain separation from a former or new abusive partner over a 12-month period (Odds Ratios 4.6 and 2.7, respectively). These finding underscore the importance of supporting women to identify and manage mental health problems as a means of enhancing their safety.

Singlehood: Transitions within a Gendered World

This study draws on the life histories of heterosexual childless individuals who have never married, to explore the more subtle ways that age norms affect the subjective experience of singlehood. Specifically, it examines whether or not it is appropriate to speak of transitions in the experience of singlehood. The data clearly reveal the experience of a transition to singlehood. This transition is represented by a change in self-attributed status that occurs over time and is associated with a cultural timetable for marriage. It marks the experience of “becoming single” that occurs when an individual identifies more with singlehood than with marriage. Moreover, I explore the ways in which singlehood is a gendered experience. The results from this study affirm the applicability of life course theory to the lives of single persons and serve to broaden the definition of the concept “transition” to include those not obviously marked by normative events.

Patterns of depressive symptoms and antidepressant use among women survivors of intimate partner violence

PurposeOne of the primary mental health responses of women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) is depression, yet little is known about the mental health and antidepressant use of women in the period after leaving an abusive partner. We investigate patterns of antidepressant use and depressive symptoms by various social indicators (parenting status, socioeconomic status, severity of abuse and disclosure of abuse). Second, we examine whether variation in antidepressant use is explained by higher rates of depression diagnoses and/or depressive symptoms, taking these social indicators into consideration.MethodsWe examine data from the Women’s Health Effects Study, a community sample of 309 Canadian women who have recently left an abusive partner.ResultsBivariate results reveal that over 80% of women with elevated depressive symptoms are without diagnosis and antidepressant medication. Multivariate analyses show that antidepressant use is predicted by an indicator of economic disadvantage, with women who receive social assistance or disability benefits being more likely to report elevated antidepressant use, controlling for both depressive symptoms and depression diagnoses.ConclusionsDocumenting and explaining depressive symptoms and antidepressant use among IPV survivors provides insight into one of many possible treatment options available to women with depression, and sheds light on potential health disparities among this subgroup of the population.