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Spousal-Abuse Among Canadian Immigrant Women

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Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the rates of self-reported physical and emotional spousal abuse among recent Canadian-immigrant (CI) women compared to Canadian-born (CB) women. The study conducted secondary data analyses on the General Social Survey, 1999. A sample of CB (n = 3548) and CI (n = 313) women was drawn that included women 25 to 49 years of age who were currently married or in a common-law relationship. Person weights and bootstrapping estimates were used to estimate the 95% confidence intervals. The proportion of emotional spousal abuse was higher in CI (14.7%, 95% CI: 10.7–18.8%) compared to CB women (8.7%, 95% CI: 7.8–9.6%). However, the proportion of physical spousal abuse was not statistically different between two groups. Possible explanations are discussed setting direction for future research and services for immigrant women.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Women’s Health Program, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada

    Farah Ahmad, Maryam Ali & Donna E. Stewart

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Farah Ahmad

  3. Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael’s Hospital, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 1W8

    Farah Ahmad

Authors
  1. Farah Ahmad
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  2. Maryam Ali
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  3. Donna E. Stewart
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Farah Ahmad.

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Ahmad, F., Ali, M. & Stewart, D.E. Spousal-Abuse Among Canadian Immigrant Women. J Immigrant Health 7, 239–246 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-005-5120-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-005-5120-4

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