Violence Toward Black Women in a Nationally Representative Sample of Black Families

This paper examines the incidence of violence toward women and risk factors for violence toward women in black families. Data from the Second National Family Violence Survey are analyzed. The Second National Family Violence Survey interviewed a nationally representative sample of 6,002 families in 1986, of which 580 respondents were black. Black women were 1.23 times more likely to experience minor violence and were more than twice as likely to experience severe violence compared to white women. Young age, low socioeconomic status, short length of time residing in the community, and unemployment or part time employment of the husband were risk factors for violence toward black women. A multivariate analysis found that age of respondent, respondent’s mother hit father, and respondent could approve of a wife slapping her husband were the three variables that best discriminated between women who experienced severe violence and those who did not. The finding support a structural-cultural theory of intimate violence. Intimate violence arises out of structural pressures and the dysfunctional adaptations to these pressures.