Intimate Partner Violence and Hate-Motivated Violence Against Asian American Women

Moving beyond existing research that typically focuses on a single form of violence, the current study adopts a holistic approach to examine psychosocial factors associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) and hate-motivated violence against Asian American women, as well as related mental and behavioral health outcomes.

This cross-sectional study was conducted between August 2022 and June 2023 among 345 community-based adult Asian American women. Multivariable Firth logistic regression models were used to address study aims.

The prevalence of violence was high: 55.1% experienced hate-motivated verbal assault, 32.2% sexual IPV, 16.3% physical IPV, and 11.4% hate-motivated physical assault. These violent experiences were significantly associated with increased odds of depression, anxiety, cigarette, alcohol, and non-medical substance use. Sexual minority status was linked to greater odds of all IPV types (adjusted odds ratios [aORs] = 1.96-2.51). Childhood abuse was associated with all IPV types and hate-motivated verbal assault (aORs = 1.96-4.84). Tangible social support was linked to reduced odds of physical IPV (aOR = 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.18-0.87) and co-occurring physical and sexual IPV (aOR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.14-0.77). Loneliness was associated with greater odds of all IPV types and hate-motivated physical assault (aORs = 2.13-4.96).

Findings highlight the substantial burden of violence and its mental and behavioral health impacts among Asian American women, emphasizing the urgent need for continued research efforts to inform culturally appropriate prevention strategies to effectively address violence for this underserved population.