The scars created by domestic violence persist long after the bruises have healed, leaving some adolescent mothers psychologically distressed and increasing their chances of being unemployed, according to a new study.
The finding comes from University of Washington research examining the effects of domestic violence on employment and use of the welfare system before and after the passage of federal welfare reform legislation in 1996.
The study found that domestic violence had no effect on welfare use before or after the legislation was enacted. It also did not have an effect on employment before the new law was passed, but afterward the likelihood of being unemployed increased if there was a history of domestic violence during the transition to adulthood. "When you are an adolescent mother and have violence in your relationship it sets you up for problems down the road," said Taryn Lindhorst, lead author of the study and a UW assistant professor of social work. "Domestic violence has an accumulative effect over time so that abused women were less likely to work. After the change in welfare policy, women who were abused were less likely to be employed compared to teenage mothers who were not abused."
Data for this paper came from an ongoing study of pregnant and parenting women starting when they were 17 years old. The employment-welfare study followed 234 women for 13 years, starting in 1988. Fifty-one percent of the women were white and 28 percent were black. American Indians, Asians, Pacific Islanders and biracial individuals made up the remaining 21 percent.
The women's welfare and employment status, along with their levels of psychological distress, were checked before welfare reform in 1994 and after welfare reform was implemented in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Domestic violence was measured several times between 1990 and 1993, and included acts ranging from women being physically threatened by partners to being beaten, choked, burned or having a gun fired at them. Psychological distress included feelings of depression and anxiety.
The data showed many adolescent mothers initially experienced high levels of domestic violence and welfare use, both of which declined in adulthood. Among the findings were: