Effects of Work on Hitting and Hurting

Abstract

Researchers have documented the ways battering can impede work and impoverish women. This project looked at abuse, work, and poverty the other way around, asking, Does women's working affect abuse or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? This article reports 162 welfare recipients' subjective assessments of the effects their working had on physical violence, work-related abuse, and PTSD symptoms. For many respondents, work aggravated abuse, in which case their average wages and weeks worked were lower. Many respondents also reported that working ameliorated their symptoms. These findings explain contradictory results of previous studies and form the basis for research, policy, and practice recommendations.