Journal of Community Piycholopy Volume 17, April 1989 zyxwvutsrqpon Intentions for Postshelter Living in Battered Women William C. Compton, Jacqueline R. Michael, Eileen M. Krasavage-Hopkins, Lary S. Schneiderman, and Leonard Bickman Oeorge Peabody College Vanderbilt University This research note reports on a study designed to predict a woman’8 inten- tions for postshelter living on leaving a shelter for victims of domestic violence. A series of discriminate analyses revealed that women who planned to move to independent living had ban married longer than the other women, had been involved with an unemployed batterer, and had stayed longer at the shelter. zyxwvu In addition, if the woman had no health problem8 and had left home in the past, she tended to move to independent living rather than to live with friends or relatives. Implications for future research and policy are discussed. A major issue for many shelter caregivers is the identification of those factors that influence a woman’s decision for postshelter living. This is especially important for in- tervention decisions because about half the women will eventually return to the batterer after their stay at the shelter. Ferraro zyxw (1981) concluded that lack of human resource8 (i.e., extended family and friends) was a key factor in a woman’s decision to return to her assailant. Children and economic dependence have been found to be among the top five reasons why women claim to stay with their abusers (Gelles, 1977; Roy, 1977). Martin (1976) reported that when shelters allowed women to stay from 3 weeks to 1 month the women were more likely to beome independent. Although these rtudies have made a beginning in the prediction both of women’s postshelter living arrangements and of their intentions for postshelter living, they offer no data on the relative importance of the factors involved in decision6 about postshelter living. In this research note we report on a study designed to investigate the relative importance of a number of factors as they affect a woman’s intentions for postshelter living. Although intentions do not necessarily predict future behavior, they are an im- portant necessary step in the decision-making procerr. Therefore, this information could be valuable in making choices about the type and timinB of specific shelter interven- tions, as well as for policy makers concerned with the allocation of funding. Method Participants were 141 women admitted to a YWCA shelter for domestic violence, Data sources were a telephone interview protocol, a client record card, and a case record for each woman admitted to the shelter. Information on demographic variables was collected when the woman entered the shelter. Information on intentions for postshelter living and length of stay at the shelter was collected as the woman was about to leave the shelter. Initial analysis of the data involved the categorization of int,entions for postshelter living arrangements into a three-category variable: return to the battercr (N= 16), live with friends or relatives (N= zyxw 46), and independent living zyx (N- 44). An in- dex of severity of abuse was calculated based on the Conflict Tactics Scales (Straus, 1974; cf. Hornung, McCullough, zyxwv & Sugimoto, 1981). An index for extent of injury was also calculated, by means of the same method used to establish the severity index. A 126