Abstract
Lives of people experiencing domestic or/and intimate partner violence abound in many unpleasant events and physical and psychological suffering, which affects their psychosocial functioning. The aim of this study was to explore indirect self-destructiveness as a generalised behavioural tendency and its manifestations in women experiencing domestic violence. The “Chronic Self-Destructiveness Scale” (CS-DS) was used to study two groups of women: 52 women aged 30–65 years (mean age: 40.15) using assistance of the Crisis Intervention Centre due to experienced domestic violence (V group) and 150 well-matched women not experiencing domestic violence (NV group). Women suffering domestic violence (V) obtained significantly higher scores than women not experiencing domestic violence (NV) for both the general index and a majority of CS-DS subscales; it was only for the A1 (Transgression and Risk) subscale that they achieved somewhat lower scores. Correlation coefficients between particular CS-DS subscales in the V group were higher than in the NV group; there were also certain differences in coefficients between the groups. Subscale factor analysis results were different too: only one factor was isolated in the V group while two were distinguished in the NV group. It can be inferred from the results that the intensity of indirect self-destructiveness as a generalised behavioural tendency as well as of most its categories was higher in women experiencing domestic violence. Tendencies and categories of indirectly self-destructive behaviours in women suffering domestic violence were more closely connected with one another, and the internal coherence of indirect self-destructiveness in those women might also be higher.
Highlights
Lives of people experiencing domestic or/and intimate partner violence abound in many unpleasant events and physical and psychological suffering [cf. 1–4]
It can be inferred from the results that the intensity of indirect self-destructiveness as a generalised behavioural tendency as well as of most its categories was higher in women experiencing domestic violence
Two differences were observed: In the V group, the A2 (Poor Health Maintenance) subscale was significantly correlated with the A5 (Helplessness) subscale, which did not occur in the not experiencing domestic violence (NV) group; in turn, in the NV group, a significant correlation was found between the A4 (Lack of Planfulness) subscale and the A5 (Helplessness) subscale, which was not observed in the V group
Summary
Lives of people experiencing domestic or/and intimate partner violence abound in many unpleasant events and physical and psychological suffering [cf. 1–4]. Domestic violence against women can be defined as any act or omission which, based on gender, causes death, physical, sexual or psychological injury and moral damage to women; it can be inflicted by individuals with or without family ties who are either related by natural bonds, affinity or express will, including sporadic relationships [7]. Domestic violence is understood as all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim [8]. Proponents of that point of view draw attention to the fact that it is not the current place of residence of the perpetrator or an ongoing relationship with the victim that are the most important. A similar phenomenon/term is the battering relationship defined as the repeated use of physical, sexual or verbal force by someone against his intimate partner [10]
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