Low-Income Mothers' Experience with Poor Health, Hardship, Work, and Violence

Abstract

Welfare reform in 1996 increased work requirements for welfare recipients. Poor mothers face multiple barriers to work, among them poor health and abuse. In a sample (N = 504) of low-income mothers of children with chronic illnesses, women who had experienced violence had significantly worse health, experienced increased hardship, and faced more barriers to employment than women who did not experience violence. Battered women's health outcomes were assessed in the context of welfare policies that emphasize work without making reasonable accommodations for health and other employment barriers, including violence.