Predicting Stages of Change in Battered Women

• Published in: Journal of interpersonal violence Vol. 24; no. 10; pp. 1652 - 1672
• Main Authors: Alexander, Pamela C., Tracy, Allison, Radek, Megan, Koverola, Catherine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-10-2009; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Abused women; Adult; Aggression; Aggressiveness; Attachment; Attachment Behavior; Battered Women; Battered Women - psychology; Battered Women - statistics & numerical data; Comparative Analysis; Confirmatory factor analysis; Conflict Tactics Scale; Correlation; Dependency theory; Developmental Stages; District of Columbia; Domestic violence; Emotional Development; Ethnicity; Factor Analysis; Family Violence; Female; Females; Humans; Income; Interpersonal Relations; Intervention; Intimate partner violence; Life Style; Marital Status; Middle Aged; Partner Abuse; Pennsylvania; Predictor Variables; Profiles; Psychometrics; Racial Differences; Satisfaction; Self Efficacy; Self-Assessment; Social Support; Social Support Groups; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic Influences; Spouse Abuse - psychology; Spouse Abuse - statistics & numerical data; Surveys and Questionnaires; Survivors - psychology; Survivors - statistics & numerical data; Women; Young Adult; District of Columbia; Pennsylvania; intimate partner violence; battered women; stages of change; transtheoretical model
• DOI: 10.1177/0886260509331494
• EISSN: 1552-6518
• ISSN: 0886-2605

Battered women’s stages of change (SOCs) are examined in this study. First, confirmatory factor analysis and latent profile analysis were conducted on 754 battered women’s responses on the Problems in Relationship Scale (Brown, 1998). Factor loadings were strong, and latent variable mixture modeling produces a two-class solution. Second, comparisons of women (including a subset of 276) suggest that they were relatively advanced in SOC. SOC was unrelated to intimate partner violence experiences, but an earlier stage was associated with ethnicity, economic and emotional dependence, preoccupied attachment, satisfaction with social supports, and women’s use of aggression. Implications for interventions and future research are described.