Associations between Substance Use and Depressive Symptoms among Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence

ABSTRACT

Associations between substance use and depression among women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) have received limited empirical attention. This study examined how demographics, frequency of IPV and problematic substance use were related to depressive symptoms among women exposed to recent IPV. Participants included 112 women (M_age = 32.26; 67% Black) recruited from community organizations in the U.S. Midsouth, many of whom had used substances (80.2%) and were living below the poverty threshold (71.3%). Results from a hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that, after accounting for age and income, more frequent IPV and more problematic tobacco use were associated with higher depressive symptoms. Neither alcohol nor illicit substance use were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. These findings highlight a meaningful connection between problematic tobacco use and depressive symptoms, indicating the potential benefits of incorporating tobacco use psychoeducation and cessation strategies into treatment programs for women experiencing depression in the context of IPV.

KEYWORDS:

• Depression
• IPV
• alcohol
• tobacco
• illicit substances
• community-based research

Conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Notes

¹ Race is a sociopolitical construct that often serves as a proxy for the impact of systemic racism and structural inequalities, it is not a biological variable. With this premise in mind, given the diversity of our sample, we chose to examine factors that often drive racial disparities, such as income (for additional review see Roberts (2011) and Smedley and Smedley (2005)).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by institutional grants: the University of Memphis Faculty Research Grant Fund (PI: Howell) and the University of Memphis Diversity Research Grant (PI: Thurston). This support does not necessarily imply endorsement by the university of the study’s research conclusions. Authors’ effort on this study was also funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R15HD089410. This work was conducted through The University of Memphis in Memphis, TN. All data was collected through community organizations in the Mid-South.