CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN PHYSICALLY ABUSED BY THEIR SPOUSES AND WHO SEEK TREATMENT REGARDING MARITAL CONFLICT

Physically abused women seeking treatment for marital difficulties (ab used women, n = 49) were compared with maritally discordant, nonabused women (discordant only, n = 23) and maritally satisfied nonabused wom en (community control, n = 25). Abused women reported significantly mo re fear of their spouses and reported that their spouses were signific antly more coercive and psychologically aggressive than women in the 2 matched nonabused groups. Abused women did not report higher rates of abuse as a child, nor did they report higher rates of past psychopath ology than women in the nonabused groups. However, abused women and no nabused discordant women reported higher rates of emotional abuse in c hildhood than maritally satisfied nonabused women. Furthermore, both c linical groups had a tendency to have higher lifetime rates of major d epression before their current marriage than the maritally satisfied w omen. This result suggests that childhood abuse and a history of depre ssion may be risk factors for women in abusive and nonabusive discorda nt relationships. As expected, abused women reported higher rates of p osttraumatic stress disorder than women in the discordant-only and com munity control groups. Treatment implications for both standard treatm ents for marital problems and treatments for victims of physical abuse are discussed.