The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of physical isolation in rural battered women. The relationships between physical isolation, level of traumatic symptoms and social support are assessed. By definition rural women are usually geographically isolated, which may contribute to the difficulty of leaving abusive relationships. Strong rural, socio-cultural norms such as traditional gender and marital roles, combined with a lack of access to beneficial services may prevent rural victims from fleeing to safety. As a result victims may be even more vulnerable to their batterers. To more fully understand difficulties faced by battered women, archival data containing a community sample of 394 women, who had experienced violence in a current or past romantic relationship, were examined. Overall quantitative findings from this sample suggest that for battered women higher violence frequency and severity are associated with greater physical isolation. In addition, high trauma symptoms are associated with greater help-seeking. Findings obtained from qualitative and quantitative data discuss isolation, culture, frequency and severity of violence, social support, and trauma symptomatology in a battered female population. Findings may provide a deeper understanding that is sensitive to the needs of women living in rural settings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-07032007-090636 |
| Date | 23 July 2007 |
| Creators | Legerski, Joanna |
| Contributors | Nancy Arnold, Ph.D., Christine Fiore, Ph.D., David Schuldberg, Ph.D., Tom Seekins, Ph.D. |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-07032007-090636/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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