Family violence is a significant women's health issue. Prior research does not yet explain the relationship between a girl/woman experiencing family violence and subsequent behavior and cognition that result in her increased risk of poor health. Gynecological problems are especially salient health risks affecting abused women and include sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), vaginal infection, fibroids, genital irritation, chronic pelvic pain, and urinary-tract infections. This dissertation research by a medical anthropologist from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, examines whether life-history experiences with family violence and with affection correspond with differing life-history sexual events and behavioral patterns that place abused women at risk for STDs, and whether this variation can be explained by resource access theory and/or social bonding (control) theory. To answer these questions the researcher will collect life histories of abused women to elicit abuse-generated STD risks. The project includes a structured survey of abused and non-abused women that measures STD risks, experiences of violence and affection, STDs/HIV diagnoses, and indicators of resource access and social bonding theory. The broader impacts of the new knowledge created by this study will be important for planners and service-providers concerned with assisting both abused women and those who aim to prevent STD. Nearly all prior research and existing policies/programs target either survivors of violence or women infected with STDs. If abused women, in comparison to non-abused women, are more likely to contract STDs, they may have unique health needs implying the need to modify existing intervention services. Identification of the underlying basis for such differences between abused and non-abused women in social control and/or resource access theories should suggest specific modification directions.
