A Study of Wife Abuse Among Vietnamese Immigrants to the US, 2000-2001 (ICPSR 35247)
Version Date: Feb 9, 2015 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Merry Morash, Michigan State University. School of Criminal Justice
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35247.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study involved a purposive sample of 129 Vietnamese immigrant women to the United States, 57 of whom experienced domestic violence. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected on abuse, efforts to stop the abuse, immigration experiences, current and prior relationship with partners, and many facets of life. One year after the first interview, the women who had experienced abuse were re-interviewed to determine whether their circumstances had changed and why they had or had not changed. For both interviews, data were collected on contacts with the justice system and satisfaction with those contacts. To measure abuse and one-year outcomes, variables included: values/norms promoting husband's domination, conflict over expectations about gender roles and other aspects of family life, immigration (reasons for immigration, sequencing of husband's and wife's move, each person's legal status), and circumstances related to immigration (discrimination, employment and occupational status, proximity of extended family, wife's support network). Qualitative data on the pattern, nature, and context of the abuse was collected to provide description of why the abuse occurred, and to support findings from the quantitative analysis and/or better specify the causative model. Additional variables included wife's perceptions of immigration law and the outcome of criminal justice involvement; wife's perception of the consequences of divorce (financial, legal realities and cultural norms regarding child custody, effect of marital status on woman's social status and quality of life); need for and effects of wife moving from the ethnic community to the mainstream to escape abuse (need of identification with the ethnic group, support network of relatives and friends, social reactions to abuse); wife's economic power (ability to speak English, earn a living); wife's experience in seeking help (knowledge of United States legal system, availability of legal and victim assistance for abused women, experience with the justice system and victim assistance programs). Demographic variables included age, race, citizenship status, religion, education, and number of children.
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Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
part of a metropolitan area
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Public and restricted versions of the data are included in this collection. Due to the sensitive nature of the restricted data, users will need to complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement before they can obtain the restricted version. These forms can be accessed on the download page associated with this dataset.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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A one-year follow-up was conducted.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of the study is to:
- Provide a detailed understanding of the different patterns of abuse and the factors contributing to wife abuse, so that the problem can be recognized, and effective prevention can be designed.
- Document the consequences of abuse to provide evidence of the importance of the problem.
- Understand women's decisions to seek and use different types of help so that the availability of assistance can be increased.
- Examine the aftermath of abuse, including experience with service providers, and the pathways to positive outcomes for women and their families, so that effective interventions can be designed.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The research involved a purposive sample of 129 Vietnamese immigrant women to the United States, 57 of whom experienced domestic violence. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected on abuse, efforts to stop the abuse, immigration experiences, current and prior relationship with partners, and many facets of life. One year after the first interview, the women who had experienced abuse were re-interviewed to determine whether their circumstances had changed and why they had or had not changed.
Sample View help for Sample
Purposive supplemented by snowball. Women recruited from one metropolitan area in northeastern United States, known to be in abusive relationships from involvement in advocacy programs or shelters designed to help abused women.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
In one metropolitan area in northeastern United States, women were recruited from a domestic violence advocacy agency, the health center that serviced the population, a relevant civic association and cultural clubs, and snowball sampling in the community. 129 women were recruited for the first interview. The 57 women who reported abuse were interviewed one year later.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
agency-sponsored surveys
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Variables include demographic (age, race, birthplace, years of education, religion), occupation, children, financial support, types and degrees of physical/mental harm, divorce or separation, whether protection orders were obtained, whether police were involved, whether the legal system was involved, whether other counseling/assistance was involved, why different types of interventions were sought or not, why fighting/violence occurred, and how helpful different interventions were.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Of the 129 women, 72 reported abuse in the year prior to the initial interview. 57 (79 percent) could be reached for a second interview. None declined, but the remainder could not be located, usually because they had moved from the area.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
Modified version of the conflict tactics scale. Women's Experience with Battering Scale Depression measured with an adaptation of a scale adapted from the Center of Epidemiological Studies Scale.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2015-02-09
Version History View help for Version History
2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
- Morash, Merry. A Study of Wife Abuse Among Vietnamese Immigrants to the US, 2000-2001. ICPSR35247-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-02-09. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35247.v1
2015-02-09 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Performed consistency checks.
- Created variable labels and/or value labels.
- Standardized missing values.
- Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
These data are freely available to data users at ICPSR member institutions. The curation and dissemination of this study are provided by the institutional members of ICPSR. How do I access ICPSR data if I am not at a member institution?
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