Transcript Document 7192863

Resiliency of Abuse Survivors &
Their Adult Children
Fran S. Danis, PhD
The University of Texas at Arlington
International Conference & Workshop on Ending Violence Against
Women
National Taiwan University
Taipei, Taiwan
December 18, 2011
[email protected]
1
My Goals Today
• Give voice to women and their adult
daughters who have survived violence and
violence exposure through the sharing of
two independent but related research
projects
• Provide recommendations for research &
practice
2
Background
• Two separate studies conducted with Dr. Kim
Anderson while we were at the University of
Missouri together
• Resiliency of Abuse Survivors
• Adult Daughters of Abuse Survivors
3
• Kim Anderson – prior research on resiliency
of adult women who had been sexually
abused as children
• My background working directly with abuse
survivors in domestic violence shelters
• Adult daughters taking my Domestic Violence
classes at the University of Missouri
4
Goals for Research
• Go beyond identifying the negative
consequences of violence experience and
exposure
• Conduct research that uncovers women’s
strengths and their capacity to overcome
adversity
5
Study Similarities
• Both exploratory research
• Both relied primarily on quantitative inquiry – using
grounded theory method
• Abuse survivors was mixed method with quantitative
measures
• Similar themes: Process by which women and adult
daughters recover from traumatic experiences of abuse
and abuse exposure –
– How do women go from being controlled to being in control?
6
Previous Research
• Consequences may remain after violence has
ended:
– Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Jones, Hughes, and Unterstaller,
2001).
– Depression (Fergusson, Horwood, & Ridder, 2005; Mechanic, Weaver, &
Resnick, 2008)
– Substance Abuse (Waldrop & Resick, 1993)
– Negative Mental Health and Physical health
outcomes (Coker, et al., 2002; Straight, Harper, & Arias, 2003)
7
• Traumatic responses vary for each individual
• Domestic violence is often prolonged and
repeated
• More one is exposed, more severe the
symptoms, more difficult the recovery
• Age of onset (i.e. adolescence), severity,
extent, and types of abuse are associated
with intensity of PTSD
8
Trauma Recovery
• Women are able to recover from domestic
violence (Goodman, et. al. 2003)
• Landenburger (1998) identifies recovery as
gaining a new balance and meaning in one’s
life after the violence has ended;
• Individuals can develop healthy and stable
personalities despite enduring highly
stressful environments (Linley & Joseph,
2004), including domestic violence.
9
• Humphreys (2003) studied resilience and its
relationship with psychological distress in 50
battered women residing in domestic violence
shelters.
• Resilience was considered “a positive
personality characteristic that enhances
individual adaptation.
• We do not know how abuse survivors are able
to achieve psychological and physical well-being
as they encounter the demands of creating a
new life.
10
Resilience Research
• Resiliency research recognizes a complex interaction of
individual attributes (e.g., intelligence, easygoing
temperament), family milieu (e.g., safe and secure
connections), and social interactions (e.g., positive peer
relations) in promoting well-being (Masten, 2001).
• Resilient persons are viewed by researchers as having “selfcorrecting” tendencies that promote their positive
adaptation in overcoming risk factors (e.g., domestic
violence).
• People who have survived traumatic situations are
considered resilient because they have enduring strengths
that developed as means to protect themselves from their
adversity (e.g., domestic violence)
11
Coping with Domestic Violence
• Wherever you find violence, you find people
trying to defend and protect themselves.
• At the moment when abuse takes place,
women who are always figuring out how best
to survive and thrive.
“Persons continue to resist, prudently,
creatively, and with astonishing
determination, even in the face of the most
extreme forms of violence” (Wade, 1997, p. 31).
12
Resiliency of Abuse Survivors
• Research purpose:
– To uncover, identify, and describe resilient
capacities among women who are survivors of
domestic abuse.
– To seek women’s perspectives on the personal
qualities and social conditions that enhanced
their ability to survive domestic violence and
persevere throughout their lives.
– Approved by University IRB
13
Methodology
• Women recruited through flyers at county health
departments & listserv of state domestic violence
coalition.
• Mailed questionnaires & scheduled interviews
• Face to face 1.5 hr interviews
• Interviews taped and transcriptions sent back to
participants for review
• 30 minute telephone interview
• $20 gift certificate
14
Measures
•
Demographics. Participant demographic factors included
their age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education level,
employment status, current relationship status, and
number of children.
•
Childhood exposure to violence. Participants were asked
whether or not they had directly experienced childhood
abuse or witnessed their mothers’ battering.
•
Intimate partner victimization. Participants were asked
how old they were when the relationship started, the
duration of the relationship, the duration of the violence,
and length of time since the relationship ended.
15
Measures of Abuse Experience
• Intimate Partner Violence Strategies Index
(Goodman et.al, 2003)
– 39 items
• IPV Abuse Index which included
– 14 items from Psychological Maltreatment of
Women Inventory (Tolman, 1999)
– 14 items on Physical Abuse (modified from Violence
Against Women Survey)
2 items on Sexual Abuse (modified from Violence Against
Women Survey)
16
Measures of Current Functioning
PTSD Checklist for Civilians (PCL-C): 17 items;
– Lower scores – less PTSD
Range from 17 - 85; symptomatic = 51-85
Conner Davidson Resiliency Scale
– 25 items, max score: 100
– Higher scores = higher resiliency
– General population is 80.4 (+ = 12.8),
– PTSD patients is 47.8 (+ = 19.5)
17
Interview Guide
• How did you feel about yourself after the
relationship ended?
• How do you feel about yourself now?
• Please describe what has helped you in healing
from domestic violence, with any lessons about
recovery learned along the way
• Please discuss any personal qualities and social
conditions that impacted your recovery.
– Prompts to this question included informal and formal
support systems along with skills, ideas, turning points
and a sense of self-regard, control, and purpose in life.
18
Study Participants
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
N = 37
Ages – 22 – 64 (M = 42)
76% Caucasian
97% heterosexual
59% employed full or part time
89% had children
At time of study 19 divorced; 13 married
52% had High School; 35% had college or
graduate degrees
19
Abuse Background
• Husbands (n = 33) or
Boyfriends (n = 4)
• Age of onset: 15 – 49 (M
= 22.16)
• 41% abuse began during
adolescence
• 78% of women (n=29)
abuse 5+ years
• Abuse ended 1-28 yrs
(M=8.0); 17 reported
abuse ended in past 1-5
yrs.
• Experienced average of
24 out of 30 types of
abuse
• Most reported – 100%
psychological abuse
• 20 reported child abuse
• 14 were children exposed
20
The Battering Experience
“I was married when I was 20 years old, and after a week,
there was a violent episode. He didn’t hit me, but he
tore up things in the household, and it was all due to,
he didn’t like what I was cooking for supper. But by the
end of the following week, which was 2 weeks into the
marriage, I took my first hit from him.
Looking back, every time that I experienced a physical
contact with him, the first thing that he would always
say is “if you hadn’t of made me” whatever the
situation was – he would say that “I wouldn’t have had
to hit you.” After two months into the marriage, he put
a loaded gun to my head. I’d never felt that kind of
scaredness before.” (Betsy, age 50)
21
“I wasn’t allowed to make decisions. I was told how to
dress. I was told what to fix for meals. I was told to do
this, that, and the other. It was very prescribed. I didn’t
have any self-esteem what-so-ever. I wasn’t even an
individual. I felt like I couldn’t do anything right. That
was verbally reinforced. I really did not have a “me.”
(Susie, age 56).
22
IPV Strategies
• Women used up to 32 different strategies
for dealing with abuser
• Including: placating, resisting, legal help,
safety planning, informal support (friends,
co-workers & family), formal support (MD,
RN, DV programs, clergy).
• The more severe the violence, the more
strategies women used = .457*
23
IPV Strategies Not Helpful
• Overall, the strategies used by
participants were considered not helpful
in controlling the violence.
• The least helpful strategies were
– “trying to get him counseling for the
violence”
– “trying to get him help for alcohol or
substance abuse”
24
PTSD Findings
• PTSD: Mostly non-symptomatic:
– Range 17–75; M = 39.89; SD = 15.45 Symptomatic
= 51-85; only 9 women symptomatic
• Higher education levels negatively correlated
with total PTSD score (r=-.37, p<.05)
• Higher PTSD scores for women who were
abused as children, IPV while teenagers,
women who reported more frequent physical
and sexual abuse
25
Resiliency Outcomes
• Overall – M=74.97; SD = 14.10 (general pop. 80.4)
• Higher resiliency scores associated with lower
levels of PTSD
• The highest scoring item was “I have at least one
close and secure relationship which helps me
when I am stressed”
• The second highest scoring item: “When there
are no clear solutions to my problems,
sometimes God or fate can help”
26
Resiliency: Non-Significant Factors
• Any of the IPV Strategies
• Age
• Relationship Status: don’t need a new
partner to “make you better”
• Kids: having kids doesn’t make you better or
add to PTSD either
27
Qualitative Findings
• Leaving an abusive relationship and working toward
recovery, took a tremendous amount of personal
strength that was bolstered through spiritual and
social support.
• Until they were strong enough to support themselves,
participants found it necessary to seek and accept
informal and formal support from others.
•
• These women identified how in rebuilding their lives
they experienced growth in their self-awareness, faith,
and interpersonal relationships.
28
• Instead of thinking one’s lot in life was to be
abused, they were able to appreciate what
they had learned from their struggles, such as
increased strength, wisdom, and compassion
and believing their experiences could benefit
others:
29
Accessing Support Networks
“Don’t
be afraid to reach out because when
you do it is so much relief and I think that
most women will really be surprised at how
many people are willing to reach out and
help you…it is such a shameful feeling,
something that you don’t want to talk about,
you don’t want to be seen as weak or a
victim or abused…but once you tell it, it’s the
first step to empowering yourself.” (Jane,
age 22)
30
• It was hard to bounce back and get the
strength to believe in myself again, but I was
able to have a good support background. I
feel sorry for anybody out there who doesn’t
have a loving family, because that’s going to
be your main strength. I went from wanting
to kill myself every day to, right now, just
being able to stand up and say, “Hey, I’m me,
and I love myself.” It was really hard to go
from one point to the other without support.
(Angel, age 42)
31
Accessing Spiritual Networks
“I’ve always believed that things happen for
a reason. I mean, what doesn’t kill you
always makes you stronger, that’s just
what I think. I’ve been through a lot. I’ve
been through things that a lot of people
can’t make it through, and I ask myself
how can I be so forgiving to people for
what they’ve done to me, and how did I
manage to make it this far? And the only
answer that I come up with is by the grace
of God; I don’t know how else to explain it.”
(Jill, age 32)
32
• Today, I can honestly say my feelings, my
emotions, I don’t let the past control me
anymore. When you get those flashbacks
from the past, you’ve just got to tell yourself,
“No, you’re not going to steal my joy. No,
you’re not gonna take away this moment.”
(Daisey, age 31)
33
Building on Strengths = Resiliency
“I found that after the relationship ended that I had a talent. A talent for talking, and a
talent for sales. I'd talked people into giving me money to help me leave, so I had to
be good at something, so I found that I was really actually very good at talking to
people on the phone, so I became a telemarketer, because I like to meet people, and I
feel like meeting the world one person at a time. So I had found myself, because I
didn't really have a lot of skills, and I made money, and I equated the amount of
money I made to my worth. I would get into competition sales, and no one would
ever take me out of first place, because that equated my worth.
And that's how I started to identify that I was a worthy person, because I could always
stay on top. Nobody could beat me. I was the best at what I did in every way, and so
that's how I grew strong, is I utilized money as a figure of worth, and still, to this day,
where I work now, locally, I work for a political fund-raising group. I'm at the top of
the pool. “
34
“I feel really good. I’m in graduate school. I own my own home.
I have retirement savings started, so financially life is okay. I
have a broad network of friends, whereas before I might
have only had one or two best friends. I have a very strong
relationship with my parents, God, and my sister. Life is
calm, it’s peaceful, it’s almost uneventful, there’s no roller
coaster, or drama, and that’s good.” (Trista, age 33)
35
• I tell you it was the worst experience in my
life, but it was also the best experience in my
life…It made me a stronger person, and I feel
like that what I have gone through, I can pass
along to others, and I feel like I have this
intuition when I’m around people that are in
those situations, and I try to make it evident
but not obvious, that I’m there for them if
they need anything. (Denise, age 42)
36
What Was Not Helpful
• Professional counselors without expertise
about domestic violence that blamed them
for the abuse
• Family members who sanctioned the abuse
by encouraging women to remain in the
relationship
• Pressure by clergy to preserve sanctity of
marriage through marriage counseling
37
Adult Daughters
• Intergenerational Transmission of Violence
• Learned Behavior
• Men abused and exposed to IPV were 3.8
more times likely than other men to
perpetrate domestic violence
• Link with victimization and violence exposure
for girls is not established
38
Research Questions: Adult
Daughters of Battered Women
1. How do adult (female) children perceive the impact
of childhood exposure to domestic violence?
2.
What are the psychosocial processes that
influenced the adult daughter’s ability to cope with
exposure to domestic violence and its aftermath?
Grounded Theory Method: Intent of this study is to
discover how one grows and recovers from
childhood exposure to domestic violence.
39
Purposive Sampling Criteria
• 22 or older
• Did not reside in parents’ home
• Had experienced (during childhood) their mothers being
battered by intimate male partners
• Had the ability to express thoughts feelings and opinions
about the effects and ability to survive and persevere
• Could separate mother’s abuse from own
40
Study Sample (N=15)
• Age: Range 22-64 years old (M=39)
• Race:
• Caucasian (11); Hispanic (1); Asian (1); Biracial: NativeAmerican/Caucasian (1); African-American (1)
• Education:
• High School (2); Some college (4); Bachelor’s or Master’s (9)
• Sexual Orientation:
• heterosexual (12) lesbian (2); bisexual (1)
41
Study Sample (N=15)
• Characteristics of batterers’ abuse
-13 exposed for 13 or more years
-age of exposure onset for child: ranged from birth to 10
years
-10 reported that the batterer used weapons
-batterers included fathers (n=14) and one stepfather
• Time separation from abuse
– Range 7 – 34 years Average = 18 yrs
• 50% had experienced abuse from an intimate partner as
adults
42
In-depth Interviews
Interview Guide Content Areas:
• Mother’s Abuse and Child Response
• View of abuse over time
• View of self over time
• View of parents over time
• Personal traits that facilitated coping
• Helpful activities, relationships, services
• Turning points
• Advice for other adult children
• Advice for service providers
43
Examples of Questions
• How have your feelings/thoughts about yourself and the
abuse changed over time? What contributed to this change?
• In what ways do you think you are like your mother? Your
father? In what ways are you different than your mother?
Than your father? How have your feelings/thoughts about
your mother changed over time? Your father? What
contributed to these changes?
• Looking back, what have you learned about yourself from
your experience of being exposed to violence against your
mother?
44
Children’s Exposure
• Dad used his size, his voice, and his strength to hurt her over
and over and over again. I first remember seeing it and
knowing that he was hurting her when I was four years
old…The abuse toward Mom continued every moment that
he was in the house with us until he was no longer in the
home.
• It didn’t stop, and he was abusive not only to her but to all
of us as well….I never felt, well, quite frankly, I didn’t think
anybody could help us. I really thought that we were all
going to die and that there was nothing that we could do
about it. I really thought we were totally trapped. (Donna,
age 45)
45
• The most vivid memory that I have would be
when my father decided that he was going to
kill us and he took his truck and he drove it to
the top of our drive way, which was a quarter
mile along, and he raced it down the
driveway and he hit the house. He smashed
into the house and he backed up and he
smashed into the house again. (Moberly, age
32)
46
47
Order Out of Chaos
• I would literally go around trying to straighten things up in
the house, as a kid, straighten the chair, straighten this, I
wanted my life straightened out, and so I did it on material
things, tangible things, because the intangible, I could not do
anything about. Until today I’m like that…it’s something I
picked up as a kid…my life is orderly, it’s not in chaos. I had
to do these kinds of things to make me feel better. (Suria,
age 35)
48
I kind of just latched on to other family members. I had an aunt
and an uncle who have a daughter that’s two years younger than I
am. That’s their second daughter, but she and I are very close.
We’re like sisters, and I spent a lot of time at their house when I
was growing up, as much as I possibly could…And I know full well
that part of me turning out okay is because of them. (Trish, age 37)
49
Opposing Oppression
• Like my dad would pull the phone out of the wall and I
couldn’t call 911. So I would have to figure out a way to get
some place to call and I’d go to the neighbors. Or, when we
lived on this little farm we were kind of far from neighbors,
and I rode motorcycles when I was kid, so I’d get on my
motorcycle and go to the neighbors to call 911 and then go
back. (Diane, age 27)
50
• When I got older I discovered that he
wouldn’t beat her if I were arguing with him,
so I would argue with him and it was because
he wouldn’t lay a hand on me, because mom
swore she would kill him if he ever did
anything to us. (Moberly, age 32)
51
Posttraumatic Growth
• In the aftermath of stressful or traumatic life
experiences, many people report personal
growth in the midst of coping with their
adversity.
• Areas strengthened: interpersonal relationships,
desire to help and protect others, spirituality
and resilience to future stressors
• Posttraumatic growth research: war combat,
natural disasters, death of a loved one, and
terminal illness.
52
• Evidence varies as to whether or how
posttraumatic growth is related to severity of
trauma as the perceived impact of it appears
more significant to growth than its exact nature.
• Posttraumatic Growth includes a process in
which individuals attempt to find meaning from
their encounters with life’s tragedies.
• “Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment,
it finds a meaning.” (Frankl, 1969, p. 23).
53
Posttraumatic Growth & Adult
Daughters
Posttraumatic Growth for these women included a
process of altering their assumptive world: a process
of cognitive deconstruction and re-ordering of the
distortions of childhood toward a state of intentional
choice-making and creation of one’s own life
according to the drive to leave abuse in the past and
to establish a future informed by the lessons of
hardship and pain.
54
Transformation Process
Participants’ resolve to better their lives involved a transformation of
childhood views of:
• Self: from vulnerability to strength
• Their Parents: mothers from victims to resisters and fathers from
inhuman to imperfect humans
• Their Trauma: from questioning their suffering to finding meaning in
their struggles.
Education and consciousness-raising about the nature and dynamics of
domestic violence was an important step in accepting their traumatic
childhood, their parents, and ultimately themselves.
55
Posttraumatic Growth:
Transforming childhood powerlessness
into personal agency and choice, including
breaking the cycle of violence.
Cognitive Rumination:
Deconstruction and re-ordering of the
distortions of childhood regarding self,
their parents, and their childhood
trauma.
Aftermath of Childhood Exposure
To Domestic Violence:
One’s struggle to “make sense” of
childhood trauma.
Education and
consciousnessraising :
Nature and
dynamics of
domestic
violence.
Stepping
Back:
Temporal,
spatial and
emotional
distance.
Telling One’s
Story:
Acknowledging
and accepting a
childhood marked
by violence.
56
Making Sense of Childhood Trauma
Lessons learned of a childhood marked by
violence:
How I make sense of it now is I wouldn’t take it
back for the world because it made me the
person that I am now, and I think that
everything happens for a reason.
Becky, age 40
57
Stepping Back
There definitely is hope. And especially once
you get out of that household. Just because
you lived in it doesn’t mean you have to
continue it. Mary, age 47
58
Education and Consciousness-Raising: Shared powerlessness
between daughters and their mothers:
I realized I was carrying around this big load of guilt.
And my guilt was that I never tried to help my mother.
I mean there were moments when I thought of going
downstairs because I couldn’t stand what I was
hearing. I was terrified. I thought she was going to be
killed. And I didn’t go; I was afraid to go. I now know
that if I had gone, there was nothing I could have
done. Sarah, age 64
59
Education and Consciousness-Raising:
Mothers as Resisters
• Because even through the absolute worst you
could ever go through in your life for her
[mother] to survive it and still have her spirit,
not lose herself and there were many times I felt
like I was losing myself, I just couldn’t believe it
was happening…seeing her do what she did was
amazing. Moberly, age 32
60
Breaking the Cycle of Abuse
• “I told him if he walked out the door that it was over and
that I didn’t want him back again, etc, and he ruptured my
eardrum and gave me a concussion and swung Jonathan
over to the couch. I said, “That’s it. I’m not going to the
doctor anymore because of something he did. I’m not going
let my son see this and think that’s the way you treat
women.”
61
• That’s what horrified me the most. I did not
want him to grow up thinking this is normal,
because I knew it wasn’t, and I couldn’t bear
the thought of damaging him. It’s not
enough just to feed and clothe and bathe the
kids. You’ve got to educate them and
prepare them to meet the world and I don’t
just mean books. That was not the way he
needed to be prepared to meet the world.”
(Donna, age 45).
62
Education and Consciousness-Raising:
Fathers as Imperfect
I kind of have empathy for him, and that’s
why I decided to restart this relationship with
him, on meeting him where he’s at….I don’t
excuse his behavior at all, but I have empathy.
I can look at him from an outside point of
view for a minute, and go, “God given his
upbringing and his struggle, he’s lucky to get
his pants on everyday, and move through the
world.” Becky, age 40
63
Posttraumatic Growth
I’ve worked my way to a place where I’m happy
and proud that I pulled through and made a
better life. My mom and dad are always going to
be the driving force, somehow, in my life, but
they’re not going to overtake my life. They’re not
going to take my life away from me. I’m going to
be better than that. Maggie, age 45
64
Recommendations for Practice
• Reduce Self-Blame: No significant relationship between
IPV strategies and resiliency.
• Outreach to religious community
• Employment & Workplace Safety
• There’s Hope: Abuse doesn’t have to define entire life
time. Even women who experienced severe violence are
able to access their own resilience.
65
Implications for Social Work Research
• The long term effects of IPV violence exposure is
a research area that needs attention.
• More attention to long term impact on diverse
populations.
• Long term impact on boys needs more attention
especially with regards to men who do not
abuse
– What are the pathways to resiliency for men?
– What mechanisms help men choose not to abuse
despite growing up in a household where IPV
occurred.
66
Limitations of Studies
• Don’t know what PTSD, Resiliency Scores,
were before and during violence
• Sample was well educated, Caucasian,
heterosexual; rural
• Self-selected sample; women who believe
they are doing well more likely to volunteer
to participate in research
67
Conclusion
Lessons learned in the stories of these abuse
survivors and adult daughters tells each of us that we
are not doomed by the past.
Each of us possesses the right and the ability to make
our own choices and destinies, no matter what has
come before.
Our role as researchers, teachers, practitioners,
friends, parents, sisters, brothers, neighbors is build
on the strengths of women to help facilitate their
ability to access their own resilient capabilities.
68