Predictors of intimate partner violence victimization in a population of high risk minority pregnant women in Washington, DC

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been recognized as impacting pregnancy outcomes. It is important to characterize factors associated with IPV during pregnancy. We followed 1,044 African American women during pregnancy if they were >17 years, spoke English, <28 weeks pregnant and screened positive for smoking, environmental tobacco smoke, depression or IPV. In this population, 32.2% (n=336) reported IPV victimization at baseline for the year preceding the interview. Bivariate results showed that women using illicit substances (p<0.001) and alcohol (p<0.001) are more likely to experience IPV. Women who were very happy to be pregnant are less likely to experience IPV (p=0.008). Women having a previous voluntary interruption of pregnancy (p=0.036) and those diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease (p=0.014) were more likely to report IPV. Women receiving higher levels of emotional support from others are less likely to experience IPV victimization (p=0.020). Variables with p-values less than 0.2 in bivariate analysis were entered into logistic regression modeling and predictors significant at p<0.05 were retained in the final model. The results show that women using alcohol during pregnancy were more likely to experience IPV (OR=2.16, 95% CI=1.50-3.10), as were those with a previous voluntary interruption of pregnancy (OR=1.57, 95% CI=1.13-2.16) and those diagnosed during pregnancy with a sexually transmitted disease (OR=1.51, 95% CI=1.08-2.12) or urinary tract infection (OR=1.48, 95% CI=1.02-2.14). Women with IPV reported having less emotional support from others (OR=0.99, 95% CI=0.98-1.00). Health providers need to screen pregnant women for IPV victimization.