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Download AudioNew research has directly linked domestic violence to wider mental and chronic health issues – with Maori women over-represented in the statistics.
According to the paper by researchers from the University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau published in the journal JAMA Network Open, women who have experienced intimate partner violence are almost three times as likely to have a diagnosed mental health condition and almost twice as likely to have a chronic illness as those who haven’t.
Co-author Tracey McIntosh, of Ngāi Tūhoe, says the type of violence is not just physical.
“We’re looking at sexual, psychological controlling behaviours, and economic abuse, and really noting that any one of these forms is likely to increase the chance of poor health outcomes,” she says.
Professor McIntosh says the study found extended or increased abuse led to correspondingly worse mental and physical health effects.
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