Poverty, personal experiences of violence, and mental health: Understanding their complex intersections among low-income women

Low-income women face myriad challenges in maintaining good psychological well-being and receiving mental health treatment. Women living in poverty in the USA experience extremely high rates of mental illness, particularly depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared with the general population. The stress of having highly constrained financial resources, as well as increased exposure to personal and neighborhood violence, leads to anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Studies suggest that the negative effects of exposure to personal violence and poverty may synergistically impair low-income women’s mental health. Furthermore, women’s roles, both traditionally and often in actuality, add to the stressors that women face, as they carry the primary responsibility for parenting and, increasingly, as primary breadwinners. This chapter reviews the literature demonstrating the intersection between having a low income, exposure to personal violence, and maintenance of psychological well-being. We then present qualitative and quantitative data from the HPTN 064 study demonstrating women’s lived experiences of these factors. This chapter also explores the role of resiliency in these women’s lives and ends with recommendations for enhancing mental health of low-income women.