Assessing the Risk of Future Psychological Abuse: Predicting the Accuracy of Battered Women's Predictions

• NCJ Number: 221878
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 23 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2008 Pages: 69-80
• Author(s): Margaret E. Bell; Lauren Bennett Cattaneo; Lisa A. Goodman; Mary Ann Dutton
• Date Published: February 2008
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined how accurately female victims of domestic abuse assessed their risk of future psychological abuse.

Abstract

This study provides further evidence that women who have suffered abuse from their intimate partners are more likely to be right than wrong in assessing the likelihood that they will continue to experience abuse from their partners. Sixty-two percent of the victims accurately assessed their risk of a continuation of being psychologically abused by their partners in the future, whether or not the prediction involved the continuation or cessation of abuse. For those victims who were wrong in their predictions, they were equally likely to err in overestimating as underestimating their risk for abuse. This suggests that victims' risk assessment may be a useful source of information for clinicians and others working with domestic abuse victims in planning for their future safety and psychological well-being. This study used data from the first interview (Time 1) and 18-month followup (Time 2) of a 4 1/2-year longitudinal study of 406 female victims of intimate partner violence who sought help from shelters, civil court, and/or criminal court in a Mid-Atlantic city. Complete data were obtained for 273 of the women at Time 1 and Time 2. The dependent variable was victim accuracy in predicting at Time 1 whether their partner would again abuse them within the 18-month period ending at Time 2. The women provided general demographic information and completed the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist. They also completed an assessment of their experiences of psychological abuse, physical abuse, and stalking. Other variables assessed were the length of the victim's relationship with her partner, the duration of the abuse, abuse experience with previous partners, perceptions of available social support, the use of informal support, and formal help-seeking at Time 1. 6 tables and 42 references