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Personality Disorder Symptoms in Women as a Result of Chronic Intimate Male Partner Violence

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Abstract

This study explores the personality disorder symptoms of women victims of intimate male partner violence (IPV), after controlling for the contribution of experiences of childhood abuse. Victims of both physical and psychological violence (n = 73) or psychological violence alone (n = 53) were compared with non-abused control women (n = 52). Information about sociodemographic characteristics, childhood abuse, and personality characteristics (MCMI-II) was obtained through face-to-face structured interviews. Women victims of IPV had higher scores than controls in schizoid, avoidant, self-defeating personality scales, as well as in the three pathological personality scales (schizotypal, borderline and paranoid). Both physical and psychological IPV were strongly associated with personality disorder symptomatology, regardless of the effects of childhood abuse. These findings underscore the need to screen for personality disorder symptoms in women victims of IPV when dealing with therapeutic interventions.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by the Institute of the Woman, Ministry of Work and Social Affairs (ref: 53/98), FEDER and the Ministry of Science and Technology (Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica; ref: BSO2001-3134), and the Conselleria D’Empresa, Universitat i Ciencia, Generalitat Valenciana (GRUPOS2004/15) Spain. Special thanks are given to Miriam Phillips for the revision of the English style, and to Dr. Vicente Gonzalez-Roma for the statistical help. Thanks are also given to the Conselleria of Social Welfare and the 24 h Centers for Helping Women of the Valencian Community of Spain for their assistance in contacting the battered women.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Manuela Martinez

  2. Department of Personality and Psychological Treatment, Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country, San Sebastian, Spain

    Enrique Echeburúa

  3. Stress Physiology Lab, Department of Evolutionary and Functional Biology, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze, 11/a, 43100, Parma, Italy

    Maria A. Pico-Alfonso

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  1. Maria A. Pico-Alfonso
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Pico-Alfonso, M.A., Echeburúa, E. & Martinez, M. Personality Disorder Symptoms in Women as a Result of Chronic Intimate Male Partner Violence. J Fam Viol 23, 577–588 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-008-9180-9

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