• Anuradha Paranjape, Nancy E Sprauve-Holmes, John Gaughan, and Nadine J Kaslow.
• Section of General Internal Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. anuradha.paranjape@temple.edu
• J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2009 Feb 1; 18 (2): 171175171-5.

BackgroundFamily violence among older women encompasses intimate partner violence (IPV) and elder maltreatment, both linked to poor health status. Little is known about the association between family violence and the health status of older innercity African American women.MethodsOne hundred fifty-eight African American women, aged >/=50, were interviewed in the ambulatory clinics of a large public hospital. Lifetime family violence exposure as an adult was measured by the Family Violence against Older Women (FVOW) scale; physical and mental health status were measured by the physical and mental component summary scores of the Short Form 8 scale.ResultsMean participant age was 61.5 years (SD 7.1). Participants with FVOW scores in the top quartile were considered to have high lifetime family violence exposure. Participants with higher family violence exposure and those younger, unemployed, or disabled reported worse physical and mental health status. Lower income and not having Medicare were associated with worse physical and mental health status, respectively. Using stepwise linear regression techniques, only employment status and high family violence exposure were associated with worse physical (F = 7.16, p = 0.0011) and mental health (f = 7.09, p = 0.0012) status. Women with high FVOW scores reported physical and mental component summary scores that were 4.18 and 4.6 points lower, respectively, than those of women with lower FVOW scores.ConclusionsAmong older, innercity, African American women, lack of employment and high levels of family violence exposure as an adult are associated with worse physical and mental health status. Clinicians caring for older African American women need to be cognizant of the role both current and prior violence exposure may play in their patients' current health status.

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