Article Figures & Data
Tables
Characteristic Mean (Range) Age in years 34 (19–54) Number of children/mother 2.5 (1–6) Number (percentage of 200) Currently pregnant 7 (4%) Currently in a relationship 154 (77%) Marital Status Single/divorced/widowed 74 (37%) Married 126 (63%) Current or past experience of intimate partner violence/abuse 78 (39%) Ethnicity/Race White 93 (47%) African American 61 (31%) Latina 46 (23%) Education ≤12th grade 110 (55%) >12th grade 90 (45%) Income/year <$20,000 93 (47%) $20,000 to 40,000 44 (22%) >$40,000 62 (31%) - Table 2.
Mean comfort response and percentage of comfort (very comfortable and somewhat comfortable responses) with children and alone, for each sensitive question by individual questions and question category
Question With Child Mean Comfort Alone Mean Comfort With Child Percentage of Comfort Alone Percentage of Comfort General DV questions 3.2 3.7 81.2 94.2 Do you feel safe in your current relationship? 3.3 3.7 84.5 93.5 In general how would you describe your relationship? 3.0 3.7 77.0 94.0 How do you and your partner work out arguments? 3.1 3.7 76.5 92.5 How is your partner treating you and the kids? 3.4 3.8 85.5 94.5 Considering your current partners or friends or any past partners or friends is there anyone who is making you feel unsafe now? 3.3 3.8 81.5 96.5 Sexual risk questions 2.2 3.6 52.0 85.0 Have you had 2 or more sexual partners in the past 10 years? 2.0 3.5 50.5 89.0 Have you ever had a sexually transmitted disease such as gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, genital warts, or genital herpes? 2.3 3.6 45.5 90.0 Substance abuse questions 3.3 3.8 83.2 95.7 Have you injected street drugs, steroids, or vitamins with a needle? 3.5 3.8 87.0 96.5 Have you used drugs for other than those required for medical reasons? 3.1 3.8 76.5 95.0 How often do you have more than 4 alcohol drinks in a day? 3.4 3.8 86.0 95.5 Depression 2.9 3.6 70.5 90.0 In the past year, have you had 2 weeks or more during which you felt sad, blue or depressed or lost pleasure in things that you usually cared about or enjoyed? 2.9 3.6 70.5 90.0 Speeding/shop lifting questions 3.4 3.7 85.3 93.2 Have you had a speeding ticket? 3.6 3.6 92.0 96.0 Have you ever shoplifted? 3.2 3.8 78.5 90.5 Participants were presented 2 questions: How comfortable are you answering this question in front of your children? How comfortable are you answering this question alone?
Responses options: very comfortable (5)/somewhat comfortable (4)/neither (3)/somewhat uncomfortable (2)/very uncomfortable (1).
Median comfort was 4 for all questions except ′Sexual risk′ questions (medians 2,3, respectively).
Percentage of comfort was significantly different for ′alone′ and ′with child′ in all question categories (P < .001) and for all individual questions (P < .01) using McNemar’s statistic.
- Table 3.
Factors associated with discomfort on any of the domestic violence questions. Results from logistic regression.
Characteristics Categories Odds Ratio (95% CI) P Value Ethnicity Latina (Compared with White as baseline) Alone 4.84 (1.78, 13.19) .002 With child 2.53 (1.22, 5.24) .01 African American Alone 0.86 (0.24, 3.08) .82 With child 0.63 (0.31, 1.27) .19 African American Alone 0.86 (0.24, 3.08) .82 With child 0.63 (0.31, 1.27) .19 Income High (>$40,000) Alone 0.76 (0.25, 2.28) .62 With child 0.78 (0.37, 1.63) .50 (Compared to low (>$20,000 as baseline) Medium ($20,000 to $40,000) Alone 0.65 (0.23, 1.82) .41 With child 0.92 (0.48, 1.77) .80 Education >12th grade Alone 2.19 (0.87, 5.55) .10 With child 0.80 (0.45, 1.41) .44 Current relationship Yes Alone 0.88 (0.33, 2.37) .80 With child 1.06 (0.54, 2.08) .87 DV experience Yes Alone 1.08 (0.44, 2.60) .87 With child 1.10 (0.61, 1.98) .75 Question Positive Negative How do you and your partner work out arguments? I can be euphemistic and give coded answers. Use disagreement instead of argument, kids might be embarrassed by the answer. Gives the physician an idea about how problems are solved. One day it might be terrible and 3 days later it might be fine, but it’s not necessarily abuse. Seems intrusive … is that any of your business? In general how do you describe your relationship? No trigger words; opens the door to learning more. Your relationship should not be discussed in front of the kids. Too general to find out about domestic violence. There are a lot of euphemisms you can use to describe a relationship that’s not going well. You can’t give one-word answers. How is your partner treating you and the kids? For domestic violence this would be the true question. What does that mean? Like does he buy me a diamond … Good way to open up. Like is he a good provider? We’re a package, if you like me you’ve got to like my kids. Separate the you and kids. This gets at child abuse. Seems too nosey, too straightforward. Do you feel safe in your current relationship? It’s all about safety. Safe is a red flag in our house. It’s mommy’s job to keep you safe. Can just give a one-word answer—yes or no. Kids will understand safe, maybe stable or secure Perhaps stressed instead of safe… Good question, it is the follow-up that might cause problems. Safety, that’s admitting vulnerability. There may even be some pride involved. Considering your current partners or friends or any past partners or friends, is there anyone who is making you feel unsafe now? Can admit something wrong without having to say exactly. Too vague So convoluted, kids won’t understand. Kids understand safe and unsafe. If you are not in a current relationship you still could have a past person that is causing problems. Instead of partners and friends, say people. You know how kids think … it depends on how a parent introduces their kids to people they date. It might be somebody the kid didn’t like
