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Coping with domestic violence: Social support and psychological health among battered women

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American Journal of Community Psychology

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Reference Notes

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Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by NIMH Grant MH08603. The authors wish to thank both the residents and staff members of the shelters who generously gave their time. In addition, we wish to thank Andrew Billings, Ruth Cronkite, Ben Gottlieb, and Ann Peabody for providing comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., August 1982.

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Mitchell, R.E., Hodson, C.A. Coping with domestic violence: Social support and psychological health among battered women. Am J Commun Psychol 11, 629–654 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00896600

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