Children fathered by previous partners: a risk factor for violence against women.

This article assesses the possible association between stepfatherhood and violence against wives in Hamilton, Ontario. The sample population comprised women who sought refuge from abusive male partners at a shelter for abused women and their children during 1986-87. Comparing shelter data for 1986-87 with survey data for 1983, results showed that steprelationship was not a correlate of either socioeconomic status or the woman's age. Young wives were over-represented among shelter clients, as they were among homicide victims. However, the over-representation of steprelationships was independent of this fact. Although the data did not demonstrate conclusively that women who had children from previous unions were assaulted especially often, they showed that men were significantly more likely to have assaulted the children as well as the women. Steprelationship, poverty, and the woman's age were distinct additive risk factors for child abuse. In conclusion, excess risks and lethal risks extend to wives, and attention to this issue is urgently needed.