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Doctoral
Thesis: Abused Mid-aged Women in
Australia: Experiences, Well-being, and Ways of Coping
Supervisor: Professor
Christina Lee
University: Research
Centre for Gender and Health, University of Newcastle,
Australia
This thesis examines the relationship between characteristics
of abuse, coping, and emotional well-being among women
from the Australian population. Using data from the
Mid-age cohort (n = 12339) of the Australian Longitudinal
Study on Women’s Health, abused women (n = 4268)
were identified as an at-risk group for a number of
adverse health, behavioural, and social problems. One
hundred and forty-three women, who had earlier participated
in a targeted survey on their experiences of abuse,
completed a second questionnaire that drew on both quantitative
and qualitative methods to investigate the strategies
used to cope with abuse in adult relationships. This
survey included the Revised Ways of Coping Checklist
and the Antonovsky Sense of Coherence scale. Multivariate
analysis of variance showed that problem-focused coping
at the time of the abuse was not related to current
emotional health, while emotion-focused coping was related
to poor emotional health, and a high sense of coherence
was related to better emotional health. Using data from
this and the earlier abuse surveys, analysis of covariance
indicated that the effect of emotion-focused coping
on emotional health was indirect, through its inverse
relationship with sense of coherence. In the final summary
path model, sense of coherence emerged as the only coping
measure to have significant direct effects on current
emotional health. Greater use of emotion-focused coping
was associated with frequent abuse, with the number
of abusers, with talking about the abuse to a medical
practitioner, with emotional abuse, with returning to
an abusive partner, with feeling a bond with other abused
women, with feeling vulnerable to further abuse, and
with viewing oneself as a victim, and not with talking
about the abuse to family or friends. After controlling
for emotion-focused coping, a high sense of coherence
was positively related to disclosure of the abuse to
family and friends, but inversely associated with abuse
from strangers, with frequent abuse, with recent abuse,
with talking about the abuse to a psychiatrist, with
talking about the abuse to a social worker, with talking
about the abuse to a financial advisor, with feeling
vulnerable to further abuse, and with viewing oneself
as a victim. However, characteristics of abuse experience
explained less than 29 per cent of the variance on coping
measures. Qualitative analysis of women’s own
descriptions of useful ways of coping generally identified
self-determination and self-affirmation, distancing
and distraction tactics, and open disclosure of the
abuse. The thesis concludes that coping is more usefully
viewed as a personal resource than as a strategy, and
its efficacy in situations of abuse will be determined
by each woman’s perception of the situation, by
the degree of challenge to comprehensibility, manageability,
and meaningfulness, and by the extent of individual
resolve for change.
For
here for more information
about Glennys Parker.
To contact Glennys:
Dr Glennys Parker
Women's Health Australia
Research Centre for Gender Health and Ageing
University of Newcastle
University Drive
Callaghan NSW 2308
Australia
Email: kaloslogos@bigpond.com |
