Food insecurity and intimate partner violence against women: results from the California Women's Health Survey.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between food insecurity and intimate partner violence in a population-based sample of heterosexual women. DESIGN: Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between three levels of food insecurity and intimate partner violence. SETTING: Data from 6 years of the California Women's Health Survey. SUBJECTS: Randomly selected women (n 16 562) aged 18 years and older from the State of California, USA. RESULTS: We found (i) that African-American women had a higher prevalence of food insecurity and were more likely to report severe intimate partner violence; (ii) a strong positive association between food insecurity and intimate partner violence; (iii) evidence of effect modification of the association between food insecurity and intimate partner violence by marital status; and (iv) higher odds of intimate partner violence among those reporting more severe food insecurity. CONCLUSIONS: Food insecurity is an important risk indicator for intimate partner violence among women. Understanding the factors that put women, especially minority women, at greatest risk facilitates intervention development.