Abstract
Seventy female residents of an urban domestic violence shelter were interviewed to examine a series of hypotheses concerning two factors relevant to the process of leaving an abusive relationship: risk assessments and decision-certainty. Participants' subjective estimates of their own risk of returning to the batterer were examined relative to their perceptions of the likelihood that most battered women will return to the batterer, their certainty regarding the decision to leave the batterer, and their status on known risk factors for returning to an abusive relationship. As hypothesized, battered women's perceptions of personal risk for returning to the batterer were biased by unrealistic optimism; specifically, personal risk was estimated as significantly lower than the risk of most battered women and was not correlated with actual risk factors. Further, the magnitude of the optimistic bias was significantly greater among women expressing high certainty about their decision to leave than among women who expressed less certainty. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Barnett, O. W., and LaViolette, A. D. (1993). It Could Happen to Anyone: Why Battered Women Stay, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Crowell, N. A., and Burgess, A. W. (1996). Understanding Violence Against Women, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Davidson, K., and Prkachin, K. (1997). Optimism and unrealistic optimism have an interacting impact on health-promoting behavior and knowledge changes. Person. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 23: 617–625.
Davies, J. M., Lyon, E., and Monti-Catania, D. (1998). Safety Planning with Battered Women: Complex Lives/Difficult Choices, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Dutton, M. A. (1996). Battered women's strategic response to violence: The role of context. In Edleson, J., and Eisikovitz, Z. (eds.), Future Interventions with Battered Women and Their Families, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 105–124.
Gollwitzer, P. M., and Kinney, R. F. (1989). Effects of deliberative and implemental mindsets on illusion of control. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 56: 531–542.
Gollwitzer, P. M., Heckhausen, H., and Steller, B. (1990). Deliberative and implemental mindsets: Cognitive tuning toward congruous thoughts and information. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 59(6): 1119–1127.
Gondolf, E., and Fisher, E. (1988). Battered Women as Survivors: An Alternative to Treating Learned Helplessness, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA.
Grigsby, N., and Hartman, B. R. (1997). The barriers model: An integrated strategy for intervention with battered women. Psychotherapy 34: 485–497.
Hersen, M., and Ammerman, R. T. (1990). Future directions in research. In Ammerman, R. T., and Hersen, M. (eds.), Treatment of Family Violence: A Sourcebook, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Herzberger, S. D. (1996). Violence Within the Family: Social Psychological Perspectives, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.
Hilbert, J. C., and Hilbert, H. C. (1984). Battered women leaving shelter: Which way did they go? J. Appl. Soc. Sci. 8: 291–297.
Horton, A. L., and Johnson, B. L. (1993). Profile and strategies of women who have ended abuse. Families Soc. 74: 481–492.
Jacobson, N. S., and Gottman, J. M. (1998). When Men Batter Women: New Insights into Ending Abusive Relationships, Simon & Schuster, New York.
Jaffe, P. G., Lemon, N. K. D., Sandler, J., and Wolfe, D. A. (1996). Working Together to End Domestic Violence, Mancorp, FL.
Kent, R. (1991). Motivational interviewing and the maintenance of change. In Miller, W. R., and Rollnick, S. (eds.), Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People to Change Addictive Behavior, Guilford Press, New York, pp. 314–321.
Kulik, J. A., and Mahler, H. I. (1987). Health status, perceptions of risk, and prevention interest for health and nonhealth problems. Health Psychol. 6: 15–27.
Lazarus, R. S., and Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal and Coping, Springer Press, NewYork.
Miller, W. R., and Rollnick, S. (1991). Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People to Change Addictive Behavior, Guilford Press, New York.
Okun, L. (1986). Woman Abuse: Facts Replacing Myths, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
Perloff, L. S., and Fetzer, B. K. (1986). Self-other judgments and perceived vulnerability to victimization. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 50: 502–510.
Prochaska, J. O., and DiClemente, C. C. (1982). Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a more integrative model of change. Psychother. Theory Res. Pract. 19: 276–288.
Prochaska, J. O., and DiClemente, C. C. (1986). Toward a comprehensive model of change. In Miller, W. R., and Heather, N. (eds.), Treating Addictive Behaviors: Process of Change, Plenum, New York, pp. 3–27.
Rusbult, C. E., and Martz, J. M. (1995). Remaining in an abusive relationship: An investment model analysis of nonvoluntary dependence. Person. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 21: 558–571.
Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., and Doyle, J. S. (1988). The relationships between characteristics of the victim, persuasive techniques of the batterer, and returning to a battering relationship. J. Soc. Psychol. 128: 605–610.
Strube, M. J. (1988). The decision to leave an abusive relationship: Empirical evidence and theoretical issues. Psychol. Bull. 104: 236–250.
Strube, M. J., and Barbour, L. S. (1983). The decision to leave an abusive relationship: Economic dependence and psychological commitment. J. Marriage Family 45: 785–793.
Strube, M. J., and Barbour, L. S. (1984). Factors related to the decision to leave an abusive relationship. J. Marriage Family 46: 837–844.
Taylor, S. E., and Brown, J. D. (1994). Positive illusions and well-being revisited: Separating fact from fiction. Psychol. Bull. 116: 21–27.
Taylor, S. E., and Gollwitzer, P. M. (1995). Effects of mindset on positive illusions. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 69: 213–226.
Scheier, M. F., and Carver, C. S. (1992). Effects of optimism on psychological and physical well-being: Theoretical overview and empirical update. Cognit. Ther. Res. 16: 201–228.
Weinstein, N. D. (1980). Unrealistic optimism about future life events. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 39: 806–820.
Weinstein, N. D. (1982). Unrealistic optimism about susceptibility to health problems. J. Behav. Med. 5: 441–460.
Weinstein, N. D. (1984). Why it won't happen to me: Perceptions of risk factors and susceptibility. Health Psychol. 3: 431–457.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Martin, A.J., Berenson, K.R., Griffing, S. et al. The Process of Leaving an Abusive Relationship: The Role of Risk Assessments and Decision-Certainty. Journal of Family Violence 15, 109–122 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007515514298
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007515514298