NCJ Number
168567
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: Summer 1997 Pages: 179-213
Date Published
1997
Length
35 pages
Annotation
This second in a series of three articles on a literature review of husband violence considers the psychological effects of such violence on battered women and their children.
Abstract
Findings show that battered women are at high risk for several psychological problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and low self-esteem. The majority of researchers view the psychological differences between battered and nonbattered women as consequences of abuse rather than as a precipitating or causal factor. Although much of the research has documented the prevalence of various psychological problems among samples of battered women, more recent work has begun to examine correlates of these psychological problems; for example, the severity and chronicity of abuse correlate positively with psychological symptoms. Researchers have also studied the problemsolving and coping skills of battered women. Such skills may be affected by marital violence and thus can be viewed as consequences of marital violence. Researchers have also compared the cognitions of battered and nonbattered women; in most of this work, interest in cognitions stems from the belief that how a woman thinks about the violence, her relationship, and herself may influence the steps she is able to take to deal with the violence in her life. Studies show that marital violence has a generally detrimental impact on children, but many variables mediate the specific effects. These factors include dimensions of the conflict itself (intensity and frequency), child-related variables, and stressors associated with marital aggression. This review also discusses methodological considerations in these studies as well as some findings on the psychological abuse of women by their husbands. 178 references