“¿Quiero que mis hijos vivan lo que yo estoy viviendo?” / “Do I want my kids to suffer the same violence that I am suffering now?”: Perceived Effects of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) on Parenting among Immigrant Latinas

Abstract

Located at the intersection of global health and medical anthropology, this research study qualitatively investigates immigrant Latina mothers’ perceptions about how intimate partner violence (IPV) has affected their parenting experiences, with particular attention to psychosocial health effects. This ethnography constitutes a senior thesis research project conducted through the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI). Through ethnographic methods consisting of in-depth interviews, participant observation, and the consultation of key informants, data was collected, out of which six main themes emerged that were found to characterize IPV’s impact on parenting among this population. Firstly, IPV was found to trigger mothers’ protective instinct, while hindering their ability to fully realize that instinct by adequately protecting their children from harm. Secondly, IPV reduced the social support available to mothers for parenting. Thirdly, IPV disrupted the unity/closeness of the relationships between mothers and their children. Fourthly, IPV contributed to mothers’ development of depression, anxiety, stress, low self-esteem, and feelings of low self-efficacy. Fifthly, IPV inspired mothers to take extra and/or more explicit steps to positively shape their children’s approach to issues related to IPV, relationships, and respect. Finally, the least common of the six effects was that IPV provoked some mothers to treat their children worse or to have a worse attitude toward them. Furthermore, the relationship between IPV and the aforementioned effects was found to be profoundly influenced by the mothers’ structural vulnerabilities based on gender, race, class, ethnicity, and national origin. Thus, the creation of a program informed by this study’s findings aimed at helping mothers in recovery from IPV build strong relationships with their children, achieve health for themselves and their children, and begin to overcome structural violence is recommended. By producing knowledge that can inform primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention efforts against IPV, this study represents a step toward the ultimate goal of ending the intergenerational cycle of IPV among all people, for the elimination of IPV depends on its prevention among each new generation.