Violence Exposure and Mental Health Among Racial/Ethnic and Sexual Minority Women: The Role of Discrimination

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health issue affecting millions of women in the US every year, especially ethnic/racial and sexual minority women. The goal of this study was to explore the role of interpersonal discrimination on both risk for IPV as well as mental health outcomes among minority women, applying both lifespan violence frameworks and an intersectionality lens. Data were drawn from a survey regarding university women's experiences of violence and mental health. Greater interpersonal discrimination was associated with more frequent IPV, as well as worse mental health, even accounting for the effects of childhood violence experiences. These results highlight the salience of both discrimination and IPV as factors in the well-being of university women holding socially marginalized identities.