The role of socioeconomic status in helpseeking from hotlines, shelters, and police among a national sample of women experiencing intimate partner violence.

Abstract

The role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the prevalence and course of intimate partner violence (IPV) has been established, but mechanisms of this role are less clear. An untested assumption has been that women of greater resources are better able to seek help. This study used a national sample of 1,077 women who had experienced IPV to explore the role of income and education in helpseeking from hotlines, shelters, and police. The authors found that SES did not play a large role in the use of hotlines, the least often used service in this study. Women with more income were less likely to use shelters and were less likely to feel they should have used them. There was an interaction between income and severity of violence in predicting police use, such that severity of violence only predicted calling police among higher income women. This finding suggests the possibility of a lower threshold for reporting violence among the lowest income women. The authors discuss the need for research using a more diverse sample of women, and the need to fine tune services according to our emerging understanding of social context.

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