STATISTICS

EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM

Only within the past two decades, have researchers and advocates begun to gather data on domestic violence within Asian and Pacific Islander (API) populations in the United States. Their findings reveal how cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and political barriers prevent API women from seeking help. The magnitude of the problem is therefore considerably greater than studies indicate. 

Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Research Report by P. Tjaden and N. Thoennes

In a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 8,000 women and 8,000 men from all ethnic backgrounds conducted from Nov 1995 to May 1996:

• 12.8% of Asian and Pacific Islander women reported experiencing physical assault by an intimate partner at least once during their lifetime; 3.8% reported having been raped.
• The rate of physical assault was lower than those reported by Whites (21.3%); African-Americans (26.3%); Hispanic, of any race, (21.2%); mixed race (27.0%); and American Indians and Alaskan Natives (30.7%). The low rate for Asian and Pacific Islander women may be attributed to underreporting.

Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Research Report. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 2000. Available at: http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/181867.txt 800-851-3420.

Silence Is Not an Option! by the National Asian Women's Health Organization

The National Asian Women's Health Organization (NAWHO) interviewed 336 Asian American women aged 18-34 who reside the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, via telephone:

• 16% of the respondents reported having experienced "pressure to have sex without their consent by an intimate partner."
• 27% experienced emotional abuse by an intimate partner.

National Asian Women's Health Organization. Silence, Not an Option! 2002 San Francisco, CA: Author.

FACT SHEET ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER COMMUNITIES

The Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence has compiled a Fact Sheet based on recent research in order to raise awareness about what Asian and Pacific Islander women are reporting and suffering, to contextualize the available data, and to influence the development of culturally specific interventions.  The Fact Sheet provides information about:

1. The Extent of the Problem
2. Domestic Violence in Specific Asian Communities
3. Types of Abuse
4. Service Utilization
5. Attitudes to Domestic Violence
6. Attitudes to Seeking Help/Intervention
7. Domestic Violence Related Homicides

This Fact Sheet can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking here. PDF of Fact Sheet or click here to view in HTML

SERVICE UTILIZATION RATES & OUTREACH ACTIVITIES IN API PROGRAMS

Institute's Data Collection Project

Goals

• To develop a picture about domestic violence in Asian and Pacific Islander communities: such information then becomes valuable to counter community denial about the problem; and raise battered women's awareness about their options.
• To understand ethnic specific phenomena and trends: in subsequent years, we can collect disaggregated data and answer questions specific to an Asian or Pacific Islander group.  For example, did an arranged marriage correlate with immediate onset of abuse; or, did groups exposed to wartime violence report higher rates of, or different forms of, domestic abuse.  
• To influence researchers to treat API data subsets as significant and disaggregate data on Asians and Pacific Islanders
• To identify trends such as:
  • The nature and extent of the violence being reported
  • The types of interventions and services being provided
  • Similarities and variations of these trends across geographic areas, ethnic groups, and other demographic grouping
• To demonstrate innovative strategies and capture the simplicity and complexity of the models the API service community has created. 

Pilot Project

• The Institute is collecting and analyzing data from several API domestic violence agencies and programs.   Results will be ready in early 2003. 
• Given that most API domestic violence programs focus on services and community outreach, we are collecting data about both.

CENSUS 2000

According to the U.S. Census 2000, there are 11,898,828 Asians, or 4.2% of the U.S. population, including more than 1.6 million multiracial Asians.  There are 874,414 Pacific Islanders or .3 % of the population, more than half of who identify as multiracial. A significant proportion of the Asian and Pacific Islander community was born outside the United States: 7.2 million were born in Asia, or 26% of the country's foreign born population.  In 2000 there were 2.5 million Asian and Pacific Islander families in the United States. 

In the United States, according to Census 2000, there are:

• 1,678,765 single race and 1,899,599 multi-race Asian Indians
• 41,280 single race and 57,412 multi-race Bangladeshis
• 171,937 single race and 206,052 multi-race Cambodians
• 2,314,537 single race and 2,734,841 multi-race Chinese
• 9,796 single race and 13,581 multi-race Fijians
• 1,850,314 single race and 2,364,815 Filipinos
• 58,240 single race and 92,611 Guamanians or Chamorros
• 169,428 single race and 186,310 multi-race Hmong
• 796,700 single race and 1,148,932 multi-race Japanese
• 1,076,872 single race and 1,228,427 multi-race Koreans
• 168,707 single race and 198,203 multi-race Laotians
• 10,690 single race and 18,566 multi-race Malaysians
• 140,652 single race and 401,162 multi-race Native Hawaiians
• 153,533 single race and 204,309 multi-race Pakistanis
• 91,029 single race and 133,281 multi-race Samoans
• 20,145 single race and 24,587 multi-race Sri Lankans        
• 118,048 single race and 144,795 multi-race Taiwanese
• 112,989 single race and 150,283 multi-race Thai
• 27,713 single race and 36,840 multi-race Tongans
• 1,122,528 single race and 1,223,736 multi-race Vietnamese

The multi-race count includes individuals who:

[a] identified themselves as single race;
[b] identified themselves as more than one ethnic group within one race (e.g., a respondent who self-identified as Vietnamese and Thai would appear in the multi-race count of both Vietnamese and Thai); and
[c] identified themselves as one or more "other" races (i.e. a respondent who self-identified as African American, Vietnamese, and White would appear in the multi-race count of all three).

Stated differently, the single race numbers represent respondents; the multi-race numbers represent responses (and in the above presentation, include the single race respondents).

Identity section defines the terms and groupings applied to Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Health Forum's Asian American Census Information Center