Many women in abusive relationships continue to view their partners as reliable | Healthland

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In spite of physical, sexual or psychological abuse, many women in abusive relationships with men continue to view their partners as dependable, and some describe them as having positive traits such as being affectionate, according to a new study conducted by researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. The study relied on survey data from the U.S. National Institute on Mental Health for 611 low-income women living in urban areas. Of those included in the survey, nearly 43% said that they had been abused by their romantic partner in the previous year. Of women who said they were abused, 54% characterized their partners as very reliable, and 21% said that their partners had many positive characteristics.

Based on the reports and perceptions of the women surveyed, nearly one fifth (18%) of abused women were in relationships with men the researchers categorized as dangerously abusive—or those who regularly engaged in physical violence and controlling behavior and frequently found themselves in legal trouble. Another 38% of women were in relationships with men who the researchers characterized as positive and controlling—meaning that they were often violent, but were also viewed by their partners as being dependable and having positive traits. Yet the largest portion of women in abusive relationships (44%) were with men who the researchers describe as dependable yet abusive—meaning that they were less frequently violent and controlling compared with men in the two other groups, and were viewed as having more positive characteristics by their partners.

The study, published in the journal Violence Against Women included survey data for urban, low-income, mostly African American women with an average age of 35. Researchers found that psychological abuse was most common, followed by physical and sexual violence. The authors say that gaining a better understanding of how women in abusive relationships perceive their abusers could aid in the development of new strategies for intervention and prevention of domestic abuse.

http://bodyg.wordpress.com bodyg

Too much it! Great women, men should have the true qualities of care to women
http://bodyg.wordpress.com
queenhoneybee50

Ridiculous!
queenhoneybee50

What happened to all the White, Puerto Rican, Chicano, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Filipino women, etc, etc? WHY is it ALWAYS, African American women of lower incomes when more women in the higher economic brackets are submitting to physical and mental abuse? Talking Heads, again! Why should we take this survey at face value when it is excluding half of the races of women who are abused and why should we believe this survey when it is obviously BIASED and incorrect! Try conducting a CORRECT survey of women of all cultures and economic backgrounds instead of this tripe! What school did you go to and what professor allowed you to get away with this type of inept survey results! This is stupid!
alyak8

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. In a perfect world all studies would be perfect and answer every question completely. Taken alone there may be flaws, but when joined with other studies focusing on varying populations the information is studied and pooled together so steps can be made to remedy the problem of domestic violence.

It is very hard to conduct a study. Restrictions of time, money, material, and manpower can affect the ability to broaden the subject pool, but the study did not say that non-African Americans were ignored, it just said a predominant amount of women were African American. The focus was on low income and it is possible they statistically corrected for race. This limitation could occur because some women from other ethnicities declined to fill out the survey. In many cases pride and shame affect a person’s willingness to admit to something even if it is anonymous. I have known of high powered women even in domestic violence agencies who lived in abusive relationships for years without admitting it to anyone, eventhough they spent their days trying to encourage others to get help.

I am curious about where you learned “more women in the higher economic brackets are submitting to physical and mental abuse?” It has always been my understanding that domestic violence occurs in all neighborhoods despite the color, economic status, disablities, or gender of it’s residents.

Stopping Domestic Violence is a topic that I feel quite passionatly about and devote much of my time. Every little bit of information that can be used to stop it is a step forward and not to be torn apart. If improvements can be made to a study or additional questions that you would like answered come to mind then by all means discuss those, but ripping a study to shreds and deeming all information derived from it as rubbish simply because it does not share the focus you would like does not help anything. You have a lot of energy and are obviously passionate about this topic as well, use that to educate and make a positive difference.