African American (AA) women are victimized by intimate partner violence (IPV) at a disproportionate rate; however, few studies have examined such women’s affective responses to violence. An experimental study was conducted to assess the predictive ability of type of simulated IPV and change in self-reported state anxiety on changes in self-reported quality of life (QOL) for 38 AA female survivors of IPV. IPV type and state anxiety change explained a significant portion of the variance in QOL change, R2 = .16, F(2, 35) = 3.42, p = .05. Data provide indirect evidence that exposure to IPV may be a cue that reminds women of their experiences of violence or the problem of IPV for AA women, which prompts more negative attitudes toward general well-being.
AtkinsonT. (1982). The stability and validity of quality of life measures. Social Indicators Research, 10, 113-132.
2.
BanksK.Kohn-WoodL.SpencerM. (2006). An examination of the African American experience of everyday discrimination and symptoms of psychological distress. Community Mental Health Journal, 42, 555-570.
3.
BeckA. T.SteerR. A. (1990). Manual for the Beck Anxiety Inventory. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.
4.
BeckA. T.SteerR. A.BrownG. K. (1996). Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.
5.
BlackP. H.GarbuttL. D. (2002). Stress, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 52, 1-23.
6.
Blasco-RosC.Sanchez-LorenteS.MartinezM. (2010). Recovery from depressive symptoms, state anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in women exposed to physical and psychological, but not to psychological intimate partner violence alone: A longitudinal study. BMC Psychiatry, 10, Article 98.
7.
BlissM. J.Ogley-OliverE.JacksonE.HarpS.KaslowN. J. (2008). African American women’s readiness to change abusive relationships. Journal of Family Violence, 23, 161-171.
8.
BurckhardtC. S.AndersonK. (2003). The Quality of Life Scale (QOLS): Reliability, validity, and utilization. Health Quality of Life Outcomes, 1, Article 60.
9.
CampbellD. W.SharpsP. W.GaryF. A.CampbellJ. C.LopezL. M. (2002). Intimate partner violence in African American women. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 7(1), 5-16.
10.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2008). Adverse health conditions and health risk behaviors associated with intimate partner violence—United States, 2005. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 57(5), 113-117.
11.
CroffordL. J. (2007). Violence, stress, and somatic syndromes. Trauma Violence Abuse, 8, 299-313.
12.
FrischM. B. (1994). QOLI: Quality of life inventory: Manual and treatment guide. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.
13.
GarfieldG. (2005). Knowing what we know: African American women’s experiences of violence and violation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
14.
GrossA. M.WinslettA.RobertsM.GohmC. L. (2006). Examination of sexual violence against college women. Violence Against Women, 12, 288-300.
15.
HouryD.KemballR.RhodesK. V.KaslowN. J. (2006). Intimate partner violence and mental health symptoms in African American female ED patients. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 24, 444-450.
16.
LaudetA. B. (2011). The case for considering quality of life in addiction research and clinical practice. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 6, 44-55.
17.
LeeR. K.ThompsonV. L.MechanicM. B. (2002). Intimate partner violence and women of color: A call for innovations. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 530-534.
18.
LesermanJ.DrossmanD. A. (2007). Relationship of abuse history to functional gastrointestinal disorders and symptoms. Trauma Violence Abuse, 8, 331-343.
19.
McNallyR. J.MetzgerL. J.LaskoN. B.ClancyS. A.PitmanR. K. (1998). Directed forgetting of trauma cues in adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 596-601.
20.
NealA. M.TurnerS. M. (1991). Anxiety disorders research with African Americans: Current status. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 400-410.
21.
NevilleH. A.TynesB. M.UtseyS. O. (2009). Handbook of African American psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
ParadisC. M.HatchM.FriedmanS. (1994). Anxiety disorders in African Americans: An update. Journal of the National Medical Association, 86, 609-612.
24.
Pico-AlfonsoM. A.Garcia-LinaresM. I.Celda-NavarroN.Blasco-RosC.EcheburúaE.MartinezM. (2006). The impact of physical, psychological, and sexual intimate male partner violence on women’s mental health: Depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder, state anxiety, and suicide. Journal of Women’s Health, 15, 599-611.
25.
Pico-AlfonsoM. A.Garcia-LinaresM. I.Celda-NavarroN.HerbertJ.MartinezM. (2004). Changes in cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone in women victims of physical and psychological intimate partner violence. Biological Psychiatry, 56, 233-240.
26.
PostmusJ. L. (2015). Women from different ethnic groups and their experiences with victimization and seeking help. Violence Against Women, 21, 376-393.
27.
ReillyN. P.SirgyM. J.GormanC. A. (2012). Work and quality of life: Ethical practices in organizations. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
28.
RennisonC.PlantyM. (2005). Nonlethal intimate partner violence: Examining race, gender, and income patterns. Violence and Abuse Abstracts, 11, 433-443.
SokoloffN.DupontI. (2005). Domestic violence at the intersections of race, class, and gender. Violence Against Women, 11, 38-64.
31.
SpielbergerC. D.GorsuchR. L.LusheneR.VaggP. R.JacobsG. A. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
32.
SueD. W.SueD. (2013). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. New York, NY: John Wiley.
33.
TaftC. T.Bryant-DavisT.WoodwardH. E.TillmanS.TorresS. E. (2009). Intimate partner violence against African American women: An examination of the socio-cultural context. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 14, 50-58.
34.
TysonS.HertingJ.RandellB. (2007). Beyond violence: Threat reappraisal in women recently separated from intimate-partner violent relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 24, 693-706.
35.
U.S. Department of Justice. (2000). Intimate Partner Violence (Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
36.
WittenbergE.JoshiM.ThomasK. A.McCloskeyL. A. (2007). Measuring the effect of intimate partner violence on health-related quality of life: A qualitative focus group study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 5, Article 67.
