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Multilevel Correlates of Broadly- and Narrowly-Defined Intimate Partner Violence Among Pregnant Women in Los Angeles

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Abstract

Studies have identified correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy at the individual and neighborhood levels, but have used inconsistent definitions of IPV. We aimed to compare correlates based on two IPV definitions: broad (physical, sexual, or psychological violence) and narrow (physical or sexual violence only). Our analysis included 12,358 women in 2,110 census tracts (weighted to represent 269,671 women) who recently gave birth and responded to the Los Angeles Mommy and Baby (LAMB) survey. We linked 2007 and 2010 LAMB data to American Community Survey 2006–2010 census tract data, and conducted separate logistic multilevel analyses to identify correlates of IPV based on each definition. Prevalence of IPV during pregnancy was much higher by the broad (18.3 %) than the narrow definition (3.9 %). No independent neighborhood-level correlates were identified. Some individual-level correlates were associated with both IPV definitions, including substance abuse (OR 3.15, 95 % CI 2.47–4.00 for broad definition; OR 3.60, 95 % CI 2.30–5.64 for narrow definition) and medical problems (OR for ≥3 vs. 0 medical problems 2.03, 95 % CI 1.61–2.55 for broad definition, OR 2.40, 95 % CI 1.54–3.74 for narrow definition). Other correlates associated only with the broad definition, such as car accidents (OR 1.44, 95 % CI 1.04–2.00) and moving during pregnancy (OR 1.35, 95 % CI 1.12–1.62). Differences in correlates of IPV during pregnancy for a broad versus narrow IPV definition may illustrate the situations or mechanisms by which different types of IPV arise. Individual-level characteristics may outweigh neighborhood influences in a diverse population.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the respondents of the 2007 and 2010 Los Angeles Mommy and Baby (LAMB) survey. Funding for the LAMB study was provided by the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health. We thank Sai Liu, Cinthiya Kasana, Diana Liu, Yeghishe Nazinyan, Carmen Gutierrez, Suvas Patel, Chandra Higgins, Marian Eldahaby, and Judith Zarate for their efforts in data collection and management for the LAMB project and their feedback on the design and interpretation of this analysis. We acknowledge Dr. Ricardo Basurto-Davila, Dr. Patricia O’Campo, and Dr. Jacky Jennings for their guidance in the early stages of data analysis and manuscript preparation, and we thank Daniel Helfer for his assistance with graphic design. Finally, we thank the de Beaumont Foundation for its support of the Epi Scholars Program, which partially supported H. Robbins in conducting this research.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

This study received ethics approval from the California Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (project number 12-08-0600, approval date 8/31/2012) and the Los Angeles County Public Health Institutional Review Board (proposal number 2012-08-397, approval date 8/30/2012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Hilary A. Robbins

  2. Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Emily A. Hurley

  3. Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Li Liu

  4. Los Angeles County Department of Health, Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Programs, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Shin Margaret Chao

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  1. Hilary A. Robbins
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  2. Emily A. Hurley
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  3. Li Liu
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  4. Shin Margaret Chao
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Correspondence to Hilary A. Robbins.

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Robbins, H.A., Hurley, E.A., Liu, L. et al. Multilevel Correlates of Broadly- and Narrowly-Defined Intimate Partner Violence Among Pregnant Women in Los Angeles. Matern Child Health J 19, 1643–1651 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-015-1675-4

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