Impact of Violence Exposure on Resilience, Emotional Regulation, and Life Satisfaction in Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between psychological resilience, cognitive emotion regulation and life satisfaction variables of women who have and have not been exposed to violence. The sample of the study consists of 411 women between the ages of 18-60 living in Turkey with at least literacy level. Sociodemographic data of all participants were collected. Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA), Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) were used to compare the psychological resilience, cognitive emotion regulation and life satisfaction scores of women who were exposed to violence and those who were not. The scores of the women who were exposed to violence from the Resilience Scale for Adults and the sub-dimension of family adjustment in the scale were lower than those who were not exposed to violence. The scores of the women who were exposed to violence in the sub-dimension of self-blame, rumination, catastrophizing and blaming others were found to be higher than those who did not experience violence, and the scores of the positive reappraisal sub-dimension of the women who were exposed to violence were found to be lower. The Satisfaction With Life Scale scores of the women exposed to violence are significantly lower than the women who are not exposed to violence. It is important to define the sociodemographic characteristics of women who have been subjected to violence, the characteristics of the violence they have experienced, the risk factors and protective factors against violence.