Work Stability Threatened by Domestic Violence: Findings from the Three-City Study

Fall 2002, Volume 24, Number 1

	(L to R) IPR researchers P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, and Brenda Lohman

Domestic violence hinders many aspects of a woman’s life, from her physical and mental health to her ability to keep a job. Research has shown that poor women are more likely to be abused than those more affluent, and women receiving public assistance are even more likely than other low-income women to be in abusive relationships.

With welfare reform and its current work mandates, domestic abuse has been a cause of concern for policymakers hoping to move women from public assistance into the workforce. New research by IPR scholars Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, Brenda Lohman, and P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale takes a closer look at this issue using data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study.

Incidence of Domestic Violence. In their IPR working paper, “Violence in Intimate Relationships as Women Transition from Welfare to Work,” Votruba-Drzal and coauthors find that a startling 75% of the roughly 2,100 low-income women interviewed had experienced domestic violence in their life, while 30% reported recent domestic violence (within the prior 12 months).

Moderate forms of abuse, including being pushed, slapped, or threatened, were the most common. Roughly one-fourth of the women interviewed had experienced moderate violence in the recent past. Severe violence, which includes being beaten, burned, threatened with a weapon, or having a weapon used against the woman, was less common, with roughly 10% reporting such violence in the recent past. However, nearly half (44%) of the women reported experiencing extreme violence at one point in their life.

Effects on Work and Welfare. Despite the recent growth in research on the topic, various study limitations have made it difficult to draw firm conclusions about the associations between domestic violence, work patterns, and welfare receipt. The research by Votruba-Drzal and coauthors extends past work by taking into account the influence of other characteristics that may confound associations between work, welfare, and domestic violence. The study also accounts for the possibility that the same characteristics that put a woman at risk for domestic violence also may make her less likely to maintain a job and become economically self-sufficient.

Using this more nuanced approach, the authors find that domestic violence did not impede a woman’s ability to find a job. However, keeping the job was problematic for many. Women who experienced increases in domestic violence during the 16-months of the study were less likely to maintain employment for at least 30 hours a week for six months a year.

The authors also find that women who remained on welfare during the 16 months of the study saw modest increases in domestic violence compared with women who were not on welfare. Women who reported a decline in domestic violence also left welfare more readily than those who did not report a decline. Entry into welfare was not related to domestic violence.

Unfortunately, the authors were unable to determine the order of events—whether the women left work because of domestic violence, or whether they left work and then experienced violence, owing, for example, to being home more or from the stress stemming from lack of income.

Domestic violence and it’s deterrence to work has been a concern since the initiation of welfare reforms in 1996 that mandated work in exchange for cash assistance. Recognizing the difficulty that victims of domestic violence may have finding and keeping a job, policymakers adopted the Family Violence Option in 1996, which gives states the ability to waive federal TANF work requirements to meet the needs of women suffering from domestic abuse.

Although a positive step, more is needed, the authors argue. “If women are being forced out of employment as a consequence of domestic violence, work requirements and time limits may need to be reconsidered,” says Chase-Lansdale. Caseworkers should also be better trained in identifying domestic violence and making women feel comfortable enough to reveal the patterns of abuse.

“Alternatively,” says Votruba-Drzal, “independent assessments of domestic violence should be considered since the conflict of interest between welfare offices and the needs of low-income battered women is too large.” The importance of making resources available and accessible to aid welfare-reliant women who are also domestic violence victims cannot be underestimated, the authors argue, if these women are to take steps toward economic self-sufficiency.

The paper may be ordered from IPR’s publications department for $5.00.