Intimate partner violence among Asian women in interracial relationships: an investigation of risk factors using U.S. national representative data

Abstract

The problem of intimate partner violence (IPV) has been examined across ethnic groups, but little is known about this issue among interracial couples. The little empirical research that exists on IPV involving interracial couples has tended to bypass Asian in the United States. This study examined the characteristics and correlates of IPV in intermarried/cohabiting Asian women using the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), which had a cross-sectional design. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of Asian intermarried women associated with immigration and IPV-related factors and to determine the IPV risk factors for this population in the United States. The results revealed that IPV rates were not significantly different between Asian women in same-race relationship and Asian women in interracial relationship for both minor and severe IPV. Asian women in interracial relationships were younger, were more educated in high school and college level, were less likely to be in the workforce, had higher self-rated physical and mental health, had more family and friends support, were more likely to immigrated in younger age, were more likely to born in the U.S., more likely to have more parents born in the U.S., more likely to be a later immigration generation, more proficient in English, and more likely to be discriminated than Asian women in same-race relationship. Friends support, generation, acculturative stress, and gender roles (couple both responsible for chores) were the predictors of total IPV among Asian women in intra-racial relationship and the everyday discrimination were the only predictor of total IPV among Asian women in interracial relationship. Although not all hypotheses were confirmed, valuable information was obtained, which helped fill the knowledge gap in the research literature on both partner violence and interracial relationship. This study provided a better understanding of Asian interracial couples and their unique characteristics that are associated with immigration and IPV-related factors.