Objective: To investigate the association between food insecurity and intimate partner violence in a population-based sample of heterosexual women.
Design: Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between three levels of food insecurity and intimate partner violence.
Setting: Data from 6 years of the California Women's Health Survey.
Subjects: Randomly selected women (n 16 562) aged 18 years and older from the State of California, USA.
Results: We found: (i) that African-American women had a higher prevalence of food insecurity and were more likely to report severe intimate partner violence; (ii) a strong positive association between food insecurity and intimate partner violence; (iii) evidence of effect modification of the association between food insecurity and intimate partner violence by marital status; and (iv) higher odds of intimate partner violence among those reporting more severe food insecurity.
Conclusions: Food insecurity is an important risk indicator for intimate partner violence among women. Understanding the factors that put women, especially minority women, at greatest risk facilitates intervention development.
Keywords: Food insecurity; Intimate partner violence; Race/ethnicity; Women.