TY - JOUR PY - 2015// TI - Violence against women in selected areas of the United States JO - American journal of public health A1 - Montgomery, Brooke E. E. A1 - Rompalo, Anne A1 - Hughes, James A1 - Wang, Jing A1 - Haley, Danielle A1 - Soto-Torres, Lydia A1 - Chege, Wairimu A1 - Justman, Jessica A1 - Kuo, Irene A1 - Golin, Carol A1 - Frew, Paula A1 - Mannheimer, Sharon A1 - Hodder, Sally SP - 2156 EP - 2166 VL - 105 IS - 10 N2 - 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. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print March 19, 2015: e1-e11. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302430).

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0090-0036 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302430 ID - ref1 ER -