Childhood maltreatment among community dwelling adult Latinas.
There is a lack of research about childhood maltreatment among adult Latinas in the United States. The aim of this secondary analysis was to explore the occurrence and co-occurrence of maltreatment during childhood in a community-dwelling sample of adult Latinas. Participants were 62 women ages 18-45 who read and spoke English, attended work or school on a regular basis, and had no health or functional interferences with daily living. On average, participants were 29 years of age (M = 29.08, SD = 9.30), high school graduates (n = 36, 58.1%), married (n = 36, 58.1%), and employed (n = 27, 43.5%). Over three quarters of participants (n = 49, 79.0%) reported at least one form of childhood maltreatment: emotional abuse (n = 24, 38.7%), physical abuse (n = 29, 46.8%), sexual abuse (n = 29, 46.8%), emotional neglect (n = 27, 43.5%), and physical neglect (n = 23, 37.1%). Maltreatment severity increased with the number of maltreatment forms. Women sexually abused during childhood were more likely than women without this history to be employed and high school graduates. These Latinas may have developed more adaptive coping mechanisms than other Latinas.
Bowman
Katherine
K
School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin, 1700 Red River, Austin, TX78701-1499, USA. kbowman@mail.nur.utexas.edu
Rew
Lynn
L
Murphey
Christina
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000193:education / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015206:Southwestern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires