Victims with voices: How abused women conceptualize the problem of spousalabuse and implications for intervention and prevention

Working from the conceptualization of abused women as both victims of and e xperts on spousal abuse, this study compares how women who have been abused , and how men and women with either less direct or no experience with spous al abuse, understand the problem and their beliefs about how it should be a ddressed. Results of a telephone survey of Philadelphia adults (N = 1,850) indicate that although in many ways abused women's opinions regarding domes tic violence do not differ from those of nonabused women, abused women are more likely to believe that society gives tacit consent to abusive behavior through its silence and that talking openly about the problem will make it easier to solve. These findings suggest that initiatives aimed at changing the social norm around domestic violence may assist in both intervention a nd prevention efforts.