The associations between sex, immigrant status, immigrant concentration and intimate partner violence: Evidence from the Canadian General Social Survey

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important public health concern, yet little is known about the combined effects of individual- and neighbourhood-level characteristics on IPV among immigrants. The aim of this study is to examine: (1) the association between immigrant status and IPV victimisation and whether sex modifies this association, and (2) the association between the neighbourhood concentration of immigrants and IPV victimisation, and whether immigrant status modifies this association. Our sample of 10,964 males and females comes from the 2009 Canadian General Social Survey. After controlling for covariates, immigrant status was not associated with IPV, and sex significantly modified the association between immigrant status and financial and physical/sexual IPV. Compared to males, second-generation females were less likely to report financial IPV and first-generation females were more likely to report physical/sexual IPV. Immigrant status modified the association between the neighbourhood concentration of immigrants and emotional and physical/sexual IPV. Compared to third-generation males, first-generation males living in neighbourhoods with a higher concentration of immigrants were more likely to report emotional IPV, whereas second-generation males in these neighbourhoods were less likely to report physical/sexual IPV. Interventions to reduce IPV should pay equal attention to individual- and neighbourhood-level influences.

Keywords:

• intimate partner violence
• immigrant status
• immigrant concentration
• sex differences
• area-level effects

Acknowledgements

Ms Kimber's work on this study was supported by a Doctoral Fellowship from the McMaster Child Health Research Institute. M.H. Boyle is supported by a CIHR Canada Research Chair in the Social Determinants of Child Health. K. Georgiades is supported by a CIHR New Investigator Award. The authors are grateful for the assistance from Peter Kitchen, Saeeda Khan and James Chowhan at Statistics Canada's Research Data Centre, and to Tara Moffatt for her comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.