Economic Insecurity and Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Victimization

Abstract

Previous research has consistently found that low SES is associated with higher levels of both intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence (SV) victimization. Though associated with poverty, two indicators of economic insecurity, food and housing insecurity, have been identified as conceptually distinct social determinants of health. This study examined the relationship between food and housing insecurity experienced in the preceding 12 months and IPV and SV victimization experienced in the preceding 12 months, after controlling for SES and other demographic variables. Data were from the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, a nationally representative telephone survey of U.S. adults. In 2016, multivariate logistic regression modeling was used to examine the association between food and housing insecurity and multiple forms of IPV and SV victimization. Robust associations were found between food and housing insecurity experienced in the preceding 12 months and IPV and SV experienced in the preceding 12 months, for women and men, even after controlling for age, family income, race/ethnicity, education, and marital status. Food and housing insecurity may be important considerations for the prevention of SV and IPV or the reductions of their consequences, although future research is needed to disentangle the direction of the association. Strategies aimed at buffering economic insecurity may reduce vulnerability to IPV and SV victimization.