Intimate Partner Violence, Spiritual Well-Being, and Parenting Stress in African-American Women

Sequelae associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) include negative emotional, physical, and parenting outcomes. This study explored spiritual well-being as a potential mediator of the relations between IPV (physical and nonphysical abuse) and parenting stress scores in a sample of 152 low-income, African-American women. Path analytic models identified spiritual well-being as a mediator of the nonphysical (but not physical)-IPV parenting stress (three subscales) link. These findings suggest that spiritual well-being may be a protective factor against parenting stress for African-American women who experience nonphysical IPV, and an important target for culturally informed preventative interventions and treatment in this population.