Making Sense of the Senseless: Women's Attributions About Battering

• NCJ Number: 111948
• Author(s): J C Campbell
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the Third National Conference on Family Violence, July 1987, Durham, New Hampshire.

Annotation

Using multivariate analysis, this study compared attributions of self-blame for 97 battered women and 96 nonbattered women who were having serious relationship problems with a man.

Abstract

Contrary to expectations, battered women generally did not blame themselves for the abuse: only 21.6 percent did so, a proportion not significantly different than the number of self-blamers in the nonvictim sample. Self-blaming battered women were more likely to be depressed and have low self-esteem than were those who blamed external factors for the abuse. Those who blamed a characterological aspect of themselves for the abuse were most affected, although those blaming a behavioral characteristic were also likely to be depressed. The least troubled groups were those who blamed both themselves and their partners (interactive blame). In opposition to the premises of learned helplessness theory, perceived stability of the situation was significantly predictive of low depression and high self-esteem. Finally, also incongruent with learned helplessness, was the finding that neither perceived control in the relationship nor general feelings of helplessness (universality) had independent or interaction effects on self-esteem and depression. 5 tables and 27 references.