BATTERED WOMENS COGNITIVE SCHEMATA

This study examined battered women's cognitive schema in relation to t heir cognitions about violence (i.e., the ''meaning'' attached to the violence), post-traumatic reactions to violence, and sexual victimizat ion histories. Seventy-two battered women seeking help from an outpati ent family violence clinic were subjects. The meaning of the violence (e.g., expectations of recurrent violence and of severe/lethal violenc e, causal attribution) was found to explain variance in cognitive sche mata about SAFETY, SELF, AND OTHER (McCann and Pearlman, 1990a). All m easures of cognitive schemata were significantly related to various gl obal and specific measures of posttraumatic stress (GSI, MMPI-PTSD, IE S). No differences were found for cognitive schemata based on historie s of sexual victimization. Results point to the importance of assessin g the impact of traumatic experiences on core cognitive beliefs as a c omponent in the constellation of post-traumatic sequelae.