Neuroscience
What makes some women vulnerable to abusive relationships? To find out, April Few and Karen Rosen at the Department of Human Development at Virginia Tech., conducted 120 hours worth of interviews with 28 women (average age 22 years; 21 Caucasians and 7 African-Americans) who had been in an abusive relationship lasting from three months to nine years. According to Few and Rosen, violence occurs within 30 per cent of dating relationships, 50 per cent of which remain intact, thus leading to chronic abuse.
Analysis of the interviews pointed to two dimensions of vulnerability - 'relational vulnerability' and 'situational vulnerability', offset by protective factors like high self-esteem. Relational vulnerability refers to things like whether a woman was exposed to family violence in her childhood, and whether she has developed a 'caretaker identity' that stems from growing up too fast - what the authors call being 'adultified in childhood' - causing her to feel a responsibility to rescue and protect her violent partner. Situational vulnerability refers to a woman's current life circumstances, like being lonely after moving away from family; or feeling the need to be in a serious relationship, or to to lose her virginity after reaching a certain age.
There were also cultural vulnerability factors unique to the African-American participants. They cited the scarcity of eligible Black men, and their concern for protecting the wider perception of Black dating relationships in the community. One woman said "the public often sees Black relationships as dysfunctional; I didn't want to be a statistic".
The study authors said their findings have clinical implications: "...the Vulnerability Conceptual Model may be useful in helping survivors engage in self-reflexive exercises to determine their own relational and situational vulnerabilities". They also recommended "narrative therapy" that "provides options for the telling and retelling of preferred stories of people's lives (their solutions) while deconstructing problems through the techniques of externalisation (separating the person from the problem)".
This research is important, Few and Rosen said, because "Identifying women's vulnerabilities can enlighten those who might want to help women become, as one participant put it, 'abuse proof'".
__________________________________
Few, A.L. & Rosen, K.H. (2005). Victims of chronic dating violence: how women's vulnerabilities link to their decisions to stay. Family Relations, 54, 265-279.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- Children Aren't Scared By Nasty Dentist Visits, But By What They Think Of Them
The Greek Stoic Epictetus wrote that "Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them." A new study involving 185 children and teenagers, 88 fathers and 97 mothers shows how this same principle applies to children's fear of...
- When Women Prefer Taller Men
Women who are in the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, or who are looking for a short-term relationship, tend to prefer taller men. That’s according to Polish researchers Boguslaw Pawlowski and Grazyna Jasienska who asked 110 women to look at...
- Disturbing Memories Caused By Disturbed Sleep?
Contributed by Lucy Rowe at Totton College. Whether it’s possible for memories of a traumatic experience to be forgotten, only to be recovered years later remains controversial. One concern is that people who report experiencing fragments of buried...
- Art Therapy In Dementia
From The New York Times: The Pablo Picasso Alzheimer's Therapy By RANDY KENNEDY The New York Times Published: October 30, 2005 SITTING the other day in front of Picasso's rapturous "Girl Before a Mirror" at the Museum of Modern Art, Rueben Rosen...
- Interested In Learning More About Domestic Violence?
PSYC 318D provides an overview of research related to intimate partner violence, the community resources available to domestic violence survivors, and the multicultural issues related to interventions with abused women and their children. Students who...
Neuroscience
Dangerous liaisons
What makes some women vulnerable to abusive relationships? To find out, April Few and Karen Rosen at the Department of Human Development at Virginia Tech., conducted 120 hours worth of interviews with 28 women (average age 22 years; 21 Caucasians and 7 African-Americans) who had been in an abusive relationship lasting from three months to nine years. According to Few and Rosen, violence occurs within 30 per cent of dating relationships, 50 per cent of which remain intact, thus leading to chronic abuse.
Analysis of the interviews pointed to two dimensions of vulnerability - 'relational vulnerability' and 'situational vulnerability', offset by protective factors like high self-esteem. Relational vulnerability refers to things like whether a woman was exposed to family violence in her childhood, and whether she has developed a 'caretaker identity' that stems from growing up too fast - what the authors call being 'adultified in childhood' - causing her to feel a responsibility to rescue and protect her violent partner. Situational vulnerability refers to a woman's current life circumstances, like being lonely after moving away from family; or feeling the need to be in a serious relationship, or to to lose her virginity after reaching a certain age.
There were also cultural vulnerability factors unique to the African-American participants. They cited the scarcity of eligible Black men, and their concern for protecting the wider perception of Black dating relationships in the community. One woman said "the public often sees Black relationships as dysfunctional; I didn't want to be a statistic".
The study authors said their findings have clinical implications: "...the Vulnerability Conceptual Model may be useful in helping survivors engage in self-reflexive exercises to determine their own relational and situational vulnerabilities". They also recommended "narrative therapy" that "provides options for the telling and retelling of preferred stories of people's lives (their solutions) while deconstructing problems through the techniques of externalisation (separating the person from the problem)".
This research is important, Few and Rosen said, because "Identifying women's vulnerabilities can enlighten those who might want to help women become, as one participant put it, 'abuse proof'".
__________________________________
Few, A.L. & Rosen, K.H. (2005). Victims of chronic dating violence: how women's vulnerabilities link to their decisions to stay. Family Relations, 54, 265-279.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- Children Aren't Scared By Nasty Dentist Visits, But By What They Think Of Them
The Greek Stoic Epictetus wrote that "Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them." A new study involving 185 children and teenagers, 88 fathers and 97 mothers shows how this same principle applies to children's fear of...
- When Women Prefer Taller Men
Women who are in the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, or who are looking for a short-term relationship, tend to prefer taller men. That’s according to Polish researchers Boguslaw Pawlowski and Grazyna Jasienska who asked 110 women to look at...
- Disturbing Memories Caused By Disturbed Sleep?
Contributed by Lucy Rowe at Totton College. Whether it’s possible for memories of a traumatic experience to be forgotten, only to be recovered years later remains controversial. One concern is that people who report experiencing fragments of buried...
- Art Therapy In Dementia
From The New York Times: The Pablo Picasso Alzheimer's Therapy By RANDY KENNEDY The New York Times Published: October 30, 2005 SITTING the other day in front of Picasso's rapturous "Girl Before a Mirror" at the Museum of Modern Art, Rueben Rosen...
- Interested In Learning More About Domestic Violence?
PSYC 318D provides an overview of research related to intimate partner violence, the community resources available to domestic violence survivors, and the multicultural issues related to interventions with abused women and their children. Students who...