Research Documents Ethnic Differences in Response to Domestic Violence

Research by Hyunkag Cho, an assistant professor of social work at Michigan State University, finds that Asian women are less likely than women from other ethnic groups to report domestic violence to authorities or seek out counseling relating to domestic violence. Professor Cho says that cultural barriers discourage victims from seeking help but he notes that also there is a lack of available resources for Asian women, such as domestic abuse hotlines with operators who speak Asian languages.

Dr. Cho’s research, published in the journal Violence Against Women, found that Asian women who were victims of domestic violence, consulted mental health service providers only 5.3 percent of the time. In contrast, Latina women who were victims of domestic violence, were nearly three times as likely to use these services.

A second study by Dr. Cho, published in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, found that Asian women who are victims of domestic violence, were four times less likely to use mental health services than White, Black, or Latina women.