Abstract
This study examined the self-esteem of 48 women who were identified as battered and compared them to a group of 48 nonbattered women. As expected, the group of battered women experienced lower self-esteem than the nonbattered women. Four clusters of battering experiences were also identified: Physical Abuse, Emotional/Controlling Abuse, Sexual/Emotional Abuse, and Miscellaneous Abuse. Analyses indicated that Emotional/Controlling abuse was the only abuse cluster that was significantly related to lower self-esteem. The findings suggest that abuse that is controlling in nature might play a significant role in the feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness noted in battered women and may contribute to the difficulty that some battered women have in terminating their abusive relationships.
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Aguilar, R.J., Nightingale, N.N. The impact of specific battering experiences on the self-esteem of abused women. J Fam Viol 9, 35–45 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531967
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531967