Not the Typical Victim: Exploring the Costs of Intimate Partner Violence on Middle-Class Black Women

Background and Purpose: The economic and financial costs of intimate partner violence (IPV) on individuals over victims’ lifetimes are devastating. Research shows that government sources pay about one-third of the lifetime economic burden, meaning that the victims are left to shoulder the other two-thirds of the debt. Scholars argue that there is a bias in the IPV literature such that researchers have focused mostly on poor women of color because of ease of access to this population in clinical settings, conflating the experiences of poor women of color. Further, women with access to financial means are turned away when they seek help, and the experience of abuse is not discussed among them; Black women are often turned away from shelters or not seen as high risk or are thought to be able to handle the violence themselves, suggesting that the experiences of Black women with perceived financial means are not being captured. Therefore, this study expands the literature by focusing on middle-class Black women’s lived experiences of IPV and how these experiences contribute to their debt burden.

Methods: I conducted in-depth interviews between August 2024 and July 2025 with 15 middle-class (at least high school/some college) Black women (self-identified). Participants included 14 cis Black women and 1 person who identified as non-binary. The average age of participants in this study was 32.7 years with ages ranging from 24 to 59. One-third of participants had children, with an average number of three children among them. Participants were recruited through social media platforms including Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and through personal and professional (school) networks. Interviews elicited narratives about their experiences of hidden abuse – non-physical violence – the resources available to them, and the financial consequences to their det burden. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and uploaded into Atlast.ti for coding. Data was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. A deductive approach in reflexive thematic analysis is researcher or theory driven. Semantic codes capture explicitly expressed meaning; they often stay close to the language of participants or the overt meanings of data. I use a deductive approach to the data and code at a semantic level.

Findings: The findings reveal four themes: financial control is about access and control of how money is spent; financial impact can be measured in more than dollars; formal resources are limited and vary in helpfulness; and violence against Black women is not always about the intersection of race and gender but how gender is situated within race. Amounts of debt or money lost ranged from $200 to $60,000, and some participants expressed loss of educational opportunities. Participants expressed despite having access to middle-class status, they experienced debt burdens that prevented them from engaging in wealth-building mechanisms such as saving for a home.

Conclusion and Implications: Findings suggest that middle-class Black women experiencing violence may have similar needs to Black women who are lower in socioeconomic status. Implications for practice and policy include an increase in unconditional basic income and culturally tailored interventions to address violence against Black women.