Assessment of the relationship of demographic and social factors with intimate partner violence (IPV) among Latinas in Indianapolis.

AIMS: Indianapolis has a rapidly growing Latino community. Through our educational outreach activities in this community during the last several years, we have identified intimate partner violence (IPV) as a significant issue, as it is in all groups in the United States. Thus, we examined the prevalence of and demographic factors and behaviors associated with IPV.

METHODS: We conducted an exploratory, cross-sectional study of 100 Latinas attending community health centers, educational presentations, and health fairs. Two questionnaires, one mainly demographic and one assessing IPV, were administered in Spanish or English. We used univariate and multivariate logistic regression to examine the relationships of the variables with IPV.

RESULTS: The majority (75.5%) of respondents were immigrants from Mexico. Only four were born in the United States. Fifty-one percent of all respondents had experienced some form of IPV. Univariate models found drinking, marital status, and presence of parent(s) in household all significant at the alpha = 0.15 level. Multivariate models indicated that only alcohol consumption by a woman or her partner was significantly associated with IPV (p = 0.0065).

CONCLUSIONS: In this exploratory study, alcohol consumption was statistically significantly associated with IPV. The use of tailored strategies to reduce alcohol use may be warranted in populations with high IPV prevalence. Future studies should examine the utility of such interventions.