Many Abused Women Lack Social Support to Leave
Originally published by Reuters Health, July 16, 2001
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — It is widely believed that women who remain in abusive relationships lack the self-esteem to get out. Now, researchers report that a lack of resources and practical support keep many women tied to their abusers.
According to study results based on interviews with nearly 500 women aged 15 to 49 living in Leon, Nicaragua, 40% of 188 abused women said they did not have enough social support to leave. Some women said that psychological counseling would have been useful while others cited family support. Many women said their own mothers advised them to remain in the relationship for the sake of the family.
"More interventions are needed to help women recognise and deal with violence, as well as strengthening the community support networks available to abused women," Dr. Mary C. Ellsberg and colleagues from Umea University in Sweden write.
In their report, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the researchers note that violence against women has been linked with chronic pain, depression, suicide and reproductive health problems.
The investigators found that 41% of abused women had left home temporarily and 20% sought outside help. Women who experienced the most violence were more likely to leave or seek help. Women living in rural communities, however, did not seek help regardless of the severity of the violence they suffered.
About 70% of abused women left their partner eventually and one quarter of these women left within the first 4 years of the relationship. Women who were younger, better educated and did not have a history of violence in their own family were more likely to abandon an abusive relationship quickly, the report indicates.
"Women who have witnessed violence against their mothers, or whose husbands were raised in violent homes may be more likely to consider violence as an inevitable part of marital life," Ellsberg and colleagues explain.
About two thirds of women, mostly those in the least abusive relationships, said they defended themselves physically or verbally and were able to stop the attack.
Thirteen percent of abused women reported having more than one abusive relationship with a man.
According to research cited in the study, 20% to 50% of women worldwide will be physically or sexually assaulted by their partner and up to 25% will be assaulted during pregnancy.
