INDIVIDUAL AND MARITAL CONSEQUENCES OF VICTIMIZATION - MODERATING EFFECTS OF RELATIONSHIP EFFICACY AND SPOUSE SUPPORT

Marital dissatisfaction and depression are common characteristics of a bused women. In this investigation, we attempted to identify variables that might buffer women's marital satisfaction and stability, and the ir psychological adjustment against the effects of verbal and physical abuse. Verbal and physical victimization had significant negative dir ect effects on women's marital satisfaction: victimized women were cha racterized by less satisfaction and less stability regardless of their sense of relationship efficacy or their perceptions of spousal suppor t. However the effects of victimization on women's depression were mod erated by relationship efficacy perceived intimacy and acceptance of e motional expression provided by the spouse: nonvictimized women who pe rceived more support and felt more efficacious, relative to those who felt less support and less efficacy, experienced fewer depressive symp toms, while victimized women who perceived more support and felt more efficacious in their relationships, relative to those characterized by less support and less efficacy, experienced more depressive symptoms. In the context of marital violence, increasing levels of relationship efficacy and perceptions of spouse support may be accompanied by an i ncrease in the risk for depressive reactions.