INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE - EXPANDING THE SEARCH FOR LONG-TERM SEQUELAE WITHIN A SAMPLE OF BATTERED WOMEN

Lifetime sexual and physical victimization histories were examined wit hin a shelter and outpatient sample of battered women (N = 43). Rates of prior victimization were very high with 71% of women reporting a ch ildhood experience of physical abuse and 53% of women reporting a chil dhood experience of sexual abuse. These experiences were then examined as predictors of intra- and interpersonal functioning. Difficulties w ith identity development, low self-worth, borderline personality chara cteristics, and (at the trend level) difficulties with intimacy, recei ved some support as long-term outcomes associated with reports of chro nic experiences of childhood physical abuse. These findings provide so me empirical support for the theorized relationship between childhood abuse and difficulties in the domains of intra- and interpersonal func tioning.