Intimate Partner Violence and Health: Self-Assessed Health, Chronic Health, and Somatic Symptoms Among Mexican American Women

Abstract

In medical settings intimate partner violence (IPV) has been linked to a variety of health problems. However, few population-based studies have assessed the health of abused women, particularly women from low socioeconomic groups such as Mexican Americans. This study examined the association between recent physical or sexual IPV and self-rated health, chronic health conditions, and somatic symptoms among Mexican American women. Participants were women (N = 1155) with current male partners enrolled in a household survey of 3012 Mexican-origin adults, ages 18 to 59 years, living in urban, town, and rural areas of Fresno County, California. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were calculated for four self-assessed health measures, seven chronic diseases, and 32 somatic symptoms. In multivariate analyses, women reporting previous-year physical or sexual IPV were more likely to report 1) fair/poor overall health (OR, 1.9; confidence interval [CI], 1.0–3.7), physical health (OR, 2.1; CI, 1.2–3.9), and mental health (OR, 3.4; CI, 1.9–6.1), as well as worse comparative health (OR, 4.4; CI, 2.3–8.3); 2) a history of heart problems (OR, 17.0; CI, 4.3–66.7); 3) persistent health problems (OR, 3.3; CI, 1.5–7.0); and 4) numerous somatic symptoms. Physical or sexual IPV was associated with poorer self-assessed health and many health symptoms among this culturally distinctive Mexican American population.