Hope M. Hill
Howard University

Purpose: Although mental health problems are common among partner abuse survivors, coping with partner abuse and its mental health consequences is understudied among African American women survivors. African American women, on the whole, are less likely to use formal services for psychosocial problems, and more likely to employ informal ways of coping, like social support and spirituality. The objectives of this study were to examine the relationships between partner abuse and specific mental health problems (depression and posttraumatic stress disorder), and determine whether social support and spirituality, as potential culturally relevant coping factors, mediate these relationships.

Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of data collected from African American women aged 18 to 75 who reported experiences of partner abuse (n = 126) residing in the metropolitan Washington, DC area.

Results: Over one third of the women reported at least mild symptoms of depression on the Beck Depression Inventory-II (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996), and nearly half reported symptoms of PTSD above the mean on the Trauma Symptom Inventory (Briere, 1992). Over half of the women reported social support and spirituality scores above the mean.  However, hierarchical regression analysis revealed that partner abuse remained significantly related to symptoms of PTSD even after controlling for the effects of both social support and spirituality (ß = .487, p = .000). Partner abuse was not a significant predictor of depression in this sample. None of the sociodemographic variables were predictors of depression or symptoms of PTSD.

Implications for practice: African American women survivors of partner abuse should be screened for specific mental health problems.  Additionally, factors relevant to their coping styles must be understood and effectively integrated into treatment.