Intimate partner violence and depression among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics.

PURPOSE

To examine the relationship between intimate partner violence and depression.

METHODS

A household probability sample of Whites (n=616), Blacks (n=377), and Hispanics (n=592) age 18 or older was interviewed in 1995. The response rate was 85%. Logistic analysis is used to identify predictors of depression.

RESULTS

Among men, Black (OR=.29; 95% CI, 0.13-.65) and Hispanic (OR=0.4; 95% CI, 0.2-0.8) ethnicity were protective against depression. Factors of risk for men included victimization by female to male partner violence (OR=4.04; 95% CI, 1.15-14.11), unemployment (OR=7.65; 95% CI, 1.59-16.39), and living in a high-unemployment neighborhood (OR=4.6; 95% CI, 1.86-11.37). Among women, the predictors are perpetration of moderate (OR=4.08; 95% CI, 1.33-12.47) or severe (OR=6.57; 95% CI, 1.76-24.52) female to male partner violence, and impulsivity (OR=1.82; 95% CI, 3.87-20.71).

CONCLUSIONS

Knowledge from surveys using general population samples is important for developing prevention interventions in the community. Because predictors of depression in these samples are both individual and contextual at neighborhood level, prevention interventions to be effective must address not only individual factors of risk but also structural conditions in the environment where individuals live.