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Partner
Violence: Roles of Work, Job Stress & Drinking
Principal Investigator:
Genevieve Ames, Ph.D.
Although
intimate partner violence (IPV) primarily occurs in the home,
the workplace, as a major domain of social interaction, can
be a location for environmental prevention. The overall goal
of this study is to determine how workplace culture, job stressors,
drinking patterns, and individual/couple factors interact
to influence normative beliefs around IPV, and thereafter
its occurrence.
The
specific aims are to 1) assess the prevalence of IPV and problem
drinking among workers and their partners in two different
occupational settings; 2) examine if alcohol factors (e.g.,
heavy drinking, frequency of intoxication) predict IPV and
moderate the association between IPV normative beliefs and
IPV; 3) examine if IPV normative beliefs mediate the association
between individual/couple characteristics and IPV; 4) examine
if work stressors (e.g., job strain, overwork, unfair treatment)
predict IPV and moderate the association between IPV normative
beliefs and IPV; and 5) ethnographically, explicate elements
of workplace culture (e.g., employee response to IPV, IPV
peer modeling, relevant policy, EAP and education programs)
that reinforce or challenge positive normative beliefs about
IPV, and thereafter, influence its occurrence.
The
study design calls for a five-year study of blue-collar workers
in the auto manufacturing and building trades industries,
and their spouses/cohabiting partners. We employ a multi-method
approach with a survey of 1000 couples (1000 married/cohabiting
workers and their partners for a total of 2000 respondents),
and an ethnography that includes 120 semi-structured interviews
with key management, union and EAP personnel, and selected
observations at the worksite. This project will provide a
better understanding of how individual and environmental factors
influence the occurrence of IPV among workers and their partners.
In the study’s last year, we will develop IPV and related
problem drinking prevention guidelines for the workplace based
on environmental and policy changes.
Proceed
to PRC CD Presentation featuring Dr. Genevieve Ames
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