Relationship of self-esteem and death anxiety in battered women.

Abstract

Violence against women as a social issue has received much attention since mid-1970s. As battered women have sought help, researchers have been able to identify characteristics common to most victims in an abusive relationship. The present study investigated the level of self-esteem and the level of reported death anxiety in abused and nonabused women. Moreover, previous research regarding battered women has been conducted primarily with subjects drawn from shelters for battered women. In view of this potential limitation, the present research also was designed to expand the generality of research findings to include a sample of battered women drawn from a nonshelter population. Thus, level of death anxiety was evaluated in three distinct samples: battered women in shelters, battered women not in shelters, and nonbattered women. The results indicated that higher levels of death anxiety were associated with abused women in the general population. Death anxiety scores of abused women in shelters and nonabused women in the general population did not differ. The level of self-esteem was found to be higher for nonabused women than for abused women which is consistent with previous research.