Resource disparity score (RDS)

Our second dependent variable, developed by the authors specifically for this study, measured the mismatch between IPV-related healthcare services and IPV arrests. We conceptualized this mismatch as the resource disparity score (RDS), which we calculated by subtracting the Z-score of a census tract’s IPV arrest rate from the NCS Z-score. Thus, tracts with a positive RDS can be considered relatively over-resourced with respect to IPV-related health service density, while tracts with a negative RDS can be considered relatively under-resourced. Tracts with the lowest RDS are not necessarily those with the worst IPV arrest rates, but rather those with the most extreme disparity between resources and arrests. The tracts of highest priority for anti-violence interventions would, therefore, be those with the highest arrest rates and the lowest RDS.