Egalitarianism and women's perception of psychological abuse.

Abstract

Despite more than 20 years of research on domestic violence, psychological abuse seems barely recognized as a major problem. Since psychological abuse is functionally equivalent and often a precursor to physical abuse, a better understanding of the psychological abuse could help in the planning of prevention and intervention programs. This study examined the relationship between abused and non-abused women, egalitarianism, and perception of psychological abuse. It was hypothesized that abused women might perceive situations as less abusive and that it might be related to their level of egalitarianism. Thirty clients from battered women programs in Kansas served as sUbjects for the abused group. Thirty-one women from graduate classes at a mid-size Kansas university were the sUbjects for the comparison group. Perception of psychological abuse was determined by the sUbjects' responses to a set of questions after reading five written vignettes. The Sex-Role Egalitarian Scale (SRES) instrument was used to measure egalitarianism. The data was analyzed through four 2 x 3 analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results indicated that, regardless of past abuse or non-abuse, women in the moderate and high-egalitarian groups did not differ significantly in their perception of psychological abuse. However, women in the low-egalitarian group had a higher likelihood of perceiving the scenarios as significantly less abusive than the more egalitarian women.