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IPV Stigma and its Social Management: The Roles of Relationship-Type, Abuse-Type, and Victims’ Sex

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Abstract

Victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) often encounter negative societal reactions to their abuse. A quantitative self-report study examined the existence of these potential identity-threats to former IPV victims (N = 345, n = 106 males, n = 239 females). Biological sex, abuse type (i.e., psychological, physical) and severity, and IPV relationship type (i.e., situational couple violence, intimate terrorism) were each modeled as predictors of IPV stigma and its social management strategies. Results indicated differences in how IPV stigma was experienced and communicatively managed by diverse victims. Findings, interpreted through an applied lens for IPV practitioners and victims, also add nuance to existing theories of IPV, interpersonal communication, and social stigma.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks dissertation committee members Drs. Leanne Knobloch (advisor), Jennifer Hardesty, John Caughlin, and Dale Brashers for their feedback early on in the process. A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2010 Central States Communication Association conference, Cincinnati, OH.

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  1. Communication Department, Western Connecticut State University, Berkshire Hall, 181 White St., Danbury, CT, 06810, USA

    Jessica J. Eckstein

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Correspondence to Jessica J. Eckstein.

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Eckstein, J.J. IPV Stigma and its Social Management: The Roles of Relationship-Type, Abuse-Type, and Victims’ Sex. J Fam Viol 31, 215–225 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9752-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9752-4

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