“Why I Stayed in That Relationship”: Barriers to Indigenous Women’s Ability to Leave Violent Relationships
Open accessAbstract
Indigenous women in the United States are among the most vulnerable to intimate partner violence (IPV), which has reached endemic levels. The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to understand contextual factors and barriers to becoming liberated from violence. Reconstructive analysis of data from a critical ethnography with a sample of 231 women across two tribes who described IPV relationships identified the following themes: controlling relationships, losing sense of priorities, using children, socioeconomic stress, family pressures, and restricting relationships. Results revealed these tactics, which parallel those used in the patriarchal colonialism of historical oppression, impeded women’s liberation from relationships.
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Such information corroborates the literature that racial minority women have experienced income insecurity.
“Such information corroborates the literature that racial minority women have experienced income insecurity ( Fox et al., 2018 ; McKinley & Liddell, 2022 ).”
From Challenges in Shared Parenting Among Racial Minority Women Survivors of Domestic Violence With Young Children (2025) · cites this paper as McKinley & Liddell, 2022
The Results section on socioeconomic stress reports that Indigenous women in abusive relationships faced employment barriers, financial dependence, and difficulty securing housing. This supports income insecurity for the women studied, but the paper does not establish the claim for racial minority women generally. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThis is because they placed more value on the co-parenting relationship and did not want the court system, which has a history of perpetuating systemic racism, resulting in inequitable outcomes, further jeopardizing the well-being of their family.
“This is because they placed more value on the co-parenting relationship and did not want the court system, which has a history of perpetuating systemic racism, resulting in inequitable outcomes ( McKinley & Liddell, 2022 ; Meyer & Stambe, 2022 ), further jeopardizing the well-being of their family.”
From Challenges in Shared Parenting Among Racial Minority Women Survivors of Domestic Violence With Young Children (2025) · cites this paper as McKinley & Liddell, 2022
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIssues rooted in colonial practices and policies, such as child welfare and the availability of affordable housing in the United States and Australia, have entrapped Indigenous women survivors of domestic violence into remaining in abusive relationships.
“Issues rooted in colonial practices and policies, such as child welfare and the availability of affordable housing in the United States and Australia, have entrapped Indigenous women survivors of DV into remaining in abusive relationships ( McKinley & Liddell, 2022 ; Meyer & Stambe, 2022 ).”
From Challenges in Shared Parenting Among Racial Minority Women Survivors of Domestic Violence With Young Children (2025) · cites this paper as McKinley & Liddell, 2022
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Cites
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Tam, D. M. Y., Archer-Kuhn, B., Beltrano, N. R., Trudgill, D. I. N., & Bozalioglu, T. M. S. (2025) · Race and Justice · doi:10.1177/21533687251356285
“Such information corroborates the literature that racial minority women have experienced income insecurity (Fox et al., 2018; McKinley & Liddell, 2022).”
Influential
- Authors
- McKinley, C. E., & Liddell, J. L.
- Affiliations
- Tulane University (US)
- University of Montana (US)
- Venue
- Violence Against Women
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2022-07-07
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 14
- Pages
- 3352-3374
- ISSN
- 1077-8012 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-8448
- PMC
- PMC9916252
- OpenAlex
- W4284708840
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 1.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Violence Against Women (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54 GM104940)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA028201)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K12HD043451)
- Tulane University (Various Internal Awards)
- Silberman Fund Faculty Grant Program (552781)
- Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation (552745)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
- Social Sciences › Health › Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights
- Social Sciences › Demography › Elder Abuse and Neglect
- Keywords
- intimate partner violence, indigenous women, leaving abusive relationships, family pressure, socioeconomic stress, tribal communities
- MeSH terms
- Intimate Partner Violence, Indigenous Peoples, Child, Employment, Female, Humans, United States, Women's Rights, Qualitative Research
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