Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the predictive value of multicultural statuses and perceptions of African American women on their safety perception attitudes within an intimate partner relationship. The sample (N = 411) included women 18 years of age or older who attended church. Participants completed a paper-form questionnaire that included a demographic questionnaire and items related to their acculturation strategy (Measurement of Acculturation Strategies for People of African Descent), racial identity beliefs (Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity), experience of sexism (Schedule of Sexist Events) and ethnic discrimination (General Ethnic Discrimination), as well as, their shifting behaviors (African American Women's Shifting Scale), spirituality (Intrinsic Spirituality Scale) and their perceptions of relationship safety (Safety Assessment of Future Events) as observed separately through the physical, verbal/psychological, and control safety constructs. Three five-stage hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the predictability of five sets of multicultural independent variables on three safety perception attitudes. To explore the dynamics of the MASPAD Acculturation Typology, the three measures of safety were used as dependent measures in a one-way between subjects multivariate analysis of variance. Three statistically significant models emerged from the quantitative data with adjusted R2 values ranging from .051 to .388. Study findings supported the hypotheses regarding the predictive qualities of cultural characteristics on African American women's self-perceived intimate partner safety. Increased cultural competence in providers who treat African American women may serve to reduce institutional barriers to service utilization thereby reducing disparity among ethnically diverse women.