Intimate partner sexual assault against women and associated victim substance use, suicidality, and risk factors for femicide.
In order to establish the frequency of substance use, following and attributed to sexual assault, and describe the danger for femicide and suicidality for women physically and sexually abused compared to physically-abused only women, a personal interview of 148 African-American, Hispanic, and white English and Spanish-speaking abused women was completed. Women who reported more than one sexual assault were 3.5 (95% CI, 0.9, 13.4) times more likely to report beginning or increasing substance use compared to women who reported only one sexual assault. Sexually assaulted women reported significantly (p=.002) more risk factors for femicide compared to physically- abused only women. Specific to suicide, women reporting sexual assault were 5.3 (95% CI, 1.3, 21.5) times more likely to report threatening or attempted suicide within a 90-day period compared to physically-abused only women. The health assessment and intervention of intimate partner violence must extend beyond injury to include behavior risk sequelae of substance abuse and suicidality.