Paula Pulmano

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Bauer, Gordon

Keywords

Battered Women, Abuse, Coping

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a world-wide problem. According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey approximately 1 in 3 women have experienced some form of IPV in their lifetime (Center for Disease and Control 2010). Battering can be life-threatening and generates a great amount of psychological stress. Therefore, battered women must employ certain coping mechanisms to buffer the psychological impact of abuse. This study investigated the relationships between the experience of battering and its effects on subjective stress, how the experience of battering affected coping choices, and had different coping styles affected subjective stress. Results based on the response of 20 victims of abuse recruited from a battered women's shelter indicated that there was a reliable relationship between experience with battering and subjective stress and negative forms of emotional coping and stress. The results also found that as problem-focused and emotional-focused coping frequencies increased, so did the other form of coping, implying that battered women utilize a vast array of coping methods to buffer psychological impact. Finally, generally women reported using emotional-focused coping strategies the most frequently. The results of this study hopefully clear up some myths about battered women and coping, recognizing that not all abused women are completely helpless, but do try to find different ways to mediate their situations. Also, the results support findings that specific coping styles do affect psychological well-being. Further research is needed to study why battered women chose particular coping skills and longitudinal studies can enhance research on more long-term coping methods.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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