Comparison of psychosocial and behavioral profiles of victimized and nonvictimized homeless women and their intimate partners

The Purpose of this study was to examine the psychosocial, behavioral, and environmental profiles of homeless women, both those with and without a his tory of victimization, and their intimate partners. Five hundred seven home less women and their intimate partners participated in the study. Thirty-ni ne percent of the women reported being Physically and/or sexually assaulted as adults. Controlling for potential confounders, victimized women were mo re likely than others to have a history of childhood sexual and physical ab use, lifetime substance use, greater mental health symptomatology, and curr ent risky sexual activity. Thus, homeless women with mental health and subs tance abuse problems ought to be screened for violent experiences and encou raged to obtain treatment appropriate to their problems to reduce their ong oing risk of victimization. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.