NCJ Number
213262
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2006 Pages: 240-250
Date Published
March 2006
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the influence of religious community involvement on battered women’s experience of depression, quality of life, social support, and self-esteem.
Abstract
Overall, the results support the notion that spirituality and involvement in a faith community is important in the lives of a majority of battered women and significantly improves battered women’s psychological well-being and quality of life. Among the current sample of 151 battered women, 97 percent reported some form of spiritual involvement. Race was found to moderate the relationship between religious involvement and social support, with greater religious involvement significantly related to greater levels of social support for Black women but not for White women. The findings suggest that faith-based communities should be formally involved in domestic violence intervention programming. Participants were 151 battered women recruited through a service agency serving domestic violence victims. The participants were involved in a larger, community-based advocacy research project. The battered women completed a series of questionnaires measuring experiences of physical and psychological abuse, depression symptoms, quality of life indicators, social support, self-esteem, sociodemographic characteristics, and involvement in a religious community. Controlling for demographic variables, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between religious involvement and outcomes for depression, quality of life, social support, and self-esteem. Much more research is needed to examine the full extent that religious involvement plays in the lives of domestic violence survivors. Tables, figure, references