Coping with an abusive relationship. I. How and why do women stay?
1991
Herbert, T.B. | Silver, R.C. | Ellard, J.H.
Drawing on theory from the literatures both on close relationships and on stress and coping, the present study attempts to enhance our understanding of the ways women cope with physical and emotional abuse while remaining with their abusive partners. Women who had experienced conflict and/or violence in a close relationship with a man were recruited through public service announcements. One hundred and thirty women (78.3% response rate) returned completed questionnaires assessing several variables, including characteristics of the abuse, positive aspects of their relationships, the use of downward comparisons, and attributions for positive behaviors and for the abuse. Forty-four (34.4%) women were still involved in the abusive relationship, while 86 (65.6%) were no longer involved with their abusive partner. Results of a discriminant function analysis suggest that women who remain with abusive partners appear to employ cognitive strategies that help them perceive their relationship in a positive light. For women still involved with their abusive partners, this positive relationship appraisal is unrelated to whether or not they have ever left their partners in the past. Moreover, it is unrelated to the frequency of moderate or severe physical abuse, but appears less likely the more frequently verbal abuse is experienced. In addition, women still involved with their abusive partners are not differentiated from those no longer involved in terms of their level of psychosocial adjustment. Our results suggest that it may be useful to adopt a stress and coping perspective and to view abusive relationships as a special class of close relationships in order to more fully understand the reasons why women may remain with their abusive partners.
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