Coping with intimate partner violence: Does it matter what women think about forgiveness?

Golden, Kristin Berndt

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115566 Copy

Description

Title

Coping with intimate partner violence: Does it matter what women think about forgiveness?

Author(s)

Golden, Kristin Berndt

Issue Date

2022-04-18

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Gobin, Robyn L

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Gobin, Robyn L

Committee Member(s)

• Alston, Reginald J
• Ebel, Jonathan H
• Todd, Nathan R
• Woods, Amelia M

Department of Study

Kinesiology & Community Health

Discipline

Community Health

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• intimate partner violence
• religious coping
• forgiveness

Abstract

Does it matter what women think about forgiveness? Women who are experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) often feel pressured to forgive their partners and remain in abusive relationships, but the practice of forgiveness is not always synonymous with reconciliation, antithetical to avoidance, or practiced unconditionally. Also, some women may choose to forgive for their own sakes, rather than their relationships. This study explored the conceptualizations, practices, and foci of forgiveness (e.g., whether survivors forgive for the sake of their partners, their relationships, themselves, or God / religious reasons) in a sample of female survivors of IPV who were separated from their partners (N = 154). It also examined the relationships between those conceptualizations, practices, foci, and four health outcomes: intention to return to abusive partner, resilience, existential well-being and spiritual well-being. The study found that only 3.9% of the women conflated forgiveness and reconciliation; a contrasting 82.52% believed that it was simultaneously possible to forgive and avoid someone; and just 11.04% considered forgiveness to be contingent on partner contrition. When moderation analyses were conducted, a two-way interaction effect was found between the practice of forgiveness and one belief (i.e., “If we have truly forgiven someone who hurt us, we can still avoid them”) when considering intention to return to abusive partner. A three-way interaction effect was found between the practice of forgiveness, partner contrition, and another belief (i.e., “You should only forgive when the person who hurt you says he is sorry”) when considering intention to return to abusive partner. A number of small two-way interactions were additionally found between several beliefs and the practice of forgiveness when considering resilience and existential well-being. When women’s foci of forgiveness were explored, only 16.88% of the women reported they forgave for the sake of their relationships, while 57.14% reported that they forgave for the sake of themselves. Additional regression analyses revealed a positive association between forgiveness for the sake of the relationship and intention to return to abusive partner, but no relationship between forgiveness for the sake of oneself and intention to return to abusive partner. Among the 68 women who indicated that they had forgiven their partners, 22 forgave only for their own sakes and 14 forgave only for the sake of themselves and God / religious reasons. Between these two groups, the mean scores of the outcome variables did not differ significantly. However, women who forgave only for their own sakes were more likely to avoid their partners than women who forgave for the sake of themselves and religious reasons. Implications for therapists, clergy, and future research are explored.  

Graduation Semester

2022-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Kristin Golden

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