Why Women Stay in Abusive Relationships

Introduction

An abusive relationship refers to any union that one individual negatively exerts control
and power over the other partner (Mirpour, Rahmani, & Ghorbanshiroodi, 2021). Abuse within a
relationship can be emotional, sexual, and physical. The abusive partner either threatens,
controls, insults, harasses, beats, or shames the other. Abuse in a relationship varies; some people
may not even realize they are in abusive relationships. The problem occurs when the perpetrator
normalizes their actions making it hard for the victim to comprehend the situation. This research
will explore why women often stay in abusive relationships.
Literature Review

Violence or abuse in relationships is a problem that has persisted for decades and
continues to increase globally. In a study conducted by Caridade, Pinheiro, and Dinis (2020), 38
percent of the interviewed women over 18 years indicated experiencing sexual, psychological,
and physical abuse, with their spouses perpetrating 41.7 percent of the cases. Accordingly, in
some countries such as Portugal, violent relationships are a hidden topic as the dominant
authorities and culture prevent people, especially women, from openly speaking about abusive
relationships (Caridade, Pinheiro, and Dinis, 2020). The World Health Organization and the
Center for Disease Control and Preventions posit that abuse and domestic relationships are
significant causes of public and social health concerns (Barbara et al., 2020). Therefore,
researchers need to assess the issues that prompt women to stay in abusive and neglectful
relationships.
According to evidence, most women report staying in an abusive relationship to avoid
societal humiliation leading to low self-esteem, while others cite financial insecurity and
uncertainty about child custody. Dysfunctional families often prepare their children to persevere

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in abusive relationships or what to expect from their partners (Barbara et al., 2020). In some
societies, individuals believe that men have the right to treat women how they desire (Caridade,
Pinheiro, and Dinis, 2020). Some females stay in abusive relationships because they are not
assertive, making them pathological. Research shows that women in abusive relations tend to get
battered wife syndrome (BWS), resulting in women exhibiting extreme depression cases and
reduced interest in life (Caridade, Pinheiro, and Dinis, 2020). The problem stems from women
staying in abusive relations for a long.
The cognitive dissonance theory by Len Festinger explains some of the reasons that
prompt individuals to stay in abusive relationships. Len Festinger argues that the harmony
between an individual’s behavior and attitude drives human beings to avoid dissonance or
contradiction (Mohaupt, Duckert & Askeland, 2021). The cognitive dissonance theory explains
why women or men stay in abusive relations by adapting their behavior and beliefs. The
individual reconciles the discrepancies between their actions and thoughts, resulting in people
believing aspects such as no marriage is perfect, or there is an opportunity for the relationship to
work, and the old good traits will return (Regan, 2011). The foot-in-the-door (FITD) effect
results when individuals comply with the first small request, which increases their likelihood of
accepting the second more significant or larger effect in the future (Abd Aziz et al., 2019).
Therefore, the victim is not likely to leave an abusive relationship.

Hypothesis

Null hypothesis (H0): self-esteem, the fear of facing discrimination and societal humiliation,
and higher conflicting emotions of violence do not affect women’s decision to stay in abusive
relationships.

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Alternate hypothesis 1: Women with less self-esteem are inclined to stay in abusive
relationships.
Alternate hypothesis two: The fear of facing discrimination and societal humiliation influences
an individual’s decision to stay in an abusive relationship.
Alternate hypothesis three: The women with higher conflicting emotions of violence and
experience are more reluctant to leave an abusive marriage.
Proposed Method

The study will utilize the cross-sectional research design in which married women
experiencing abuse or victims of previous abusive marriages will be recruited. Moreover, the
researcher will interview marriage counselors to provide an expert perspective on the reasons
women opt to stick to abusive marriages.

Research Instrument

The researcher will interview women who are in and those who just left an abusive
relationship to understand all the areas of interest. The counselors and individuals in the same
field will undertake the study. The latter group will provide instances they helped women in
abusive relationships. The researcher will use the self-esteem scale to measure the women’s self-
esteem. The independent variables incorporate societal fear and conflicting emotions of violence
and self-esteem. The moderating and dependent variables are self-esteem and the decision to stay
in abusive relations, respectively.

Reliability and Validity of the Research Instruments

The researcher will incorporate specialists to affirm the validity of the questionnaires.
The researcher will also conduct a pilot study to verify the instruments’ reliability, such as the
self-esteem scale and interview. The SPSS software will be used to analyze the data collected.

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The researcher will use the slip-half approach to assess the reliability. If the figure ranges
between 0.5 and 0.9, the questionnaires are said to be reliable.
Possible Limitations

The study will analyze why women stay in abusive relationships, and the results can be
generalized to the entire population. The limitation at this phase is selecting individuals willing
to participate in the study. The study implies that the researcher must carefully select the target
group to ensure the group represents the characteristic of the target group.

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References

Abd Aziz, N. N., Yazid, Z. N. A., Hazudin, S. F., Abd Wahid, N., & Ishak, M. (2019). Why do
women continue to persevere in abusive relationships? International Journal for Studies
on Children, Women, Elderly And Disabled, 309(8), 1-5.
Barbara, G., Facchin, F., Micci, L., Rendiniello, M., Giulini, P., Cattaneo, C., … & Kustermann,
A. (2020). COVID-19, lockdown, and intimate partner violence: some data from an
Italian service and suggestions for future approaches. Journal of Women’s Health, 29(10),
1239-1242.
Caridade, S., Pinheiro, I., & Dinis, M. A. P. (2020). Stay or leave abusive dating relationships:
Portuguese victims’ reasons and barriers. Social Sciences, 9(5), 84.
Mirpour, Z., Rahmani, M., & Ghorbanshiroodi, S. (2021). Explaining the concept of re-
experiencing abusive relationships. Journal of Holistic Nursing and Midwifery, 31(2),
124-134.
Mohaupt, H., Duckert, F., & Askeland, I. R. (2021). How do memories of having been parented
relate to the Parenting-experience of fathers in treatment for intimate partner violence? A
phenomenological analysis. Journal of Family Violence, 36(4), 467-480.
Regan, P. (2011). Close relationships. Routledge.