The association between social support and stages of change in survivors of intimate partner violence
Abstract
For survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), it is often difficult to take steps to establish safety and obtain a violence free life. Researchers have applied stage of change theory to aid in understanding the experience of survivors, as well as, the factors that can help women who desire to make changes in or break free from a violent relationship. Social support is one factor that can be helpful to IPV survivors who are attempting to make changes in their relationship. The purpose of the current study was to examine the differences in social support experienced by women who are at varying points in the process of change. Shelter residents ( N = 191) participated in this cross-sectional non-experimental study. Analyses demonstrated five distinct clusters or profiles of change among study participants and were labeled by the authors as follows: preparticipation, decision making, engagement, ambivalent, and action. All forms of social support (i.e., structural, functional, and satisfaction) were generally higher for individuals more engaged in the process of change. More specifically, differences were noted between the action and decision-making clusters and the engagement and decision-making clusters. These findings suggest that it is vital that clinicians working with survivors of IPV not only assess but also tailor interventions to meet survivors where they are in the process of change. Further, interventions that foster survivors' abilities to develop reliable and satisfying social support networks will be beneficial for survivors of IPV.
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Lack of social support, tightly related to IPV victimization, may be very high among avoidant victims of IPV.
“lack of social support, tightly related to IPV victimization (Zapor et al., 2018), may be very high among avoidant victims of IPV (Davis et al., 2002).”
From Exploring Relationships: A Systematic Review on Intimate Partner Violence and Attachment (2018) · cites this paper as Zapor et al., 2018
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- Authors
- Zapor, H., Wolford-Clevenger, C., & Johnson, D. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
- University of Akron (US)
- Corresponding author
- Zapor, Heather
- ORCID
- Johnson, Dawn M.
- Venue
- Journal of Interpersonal Violence
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-12-02
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1051-1070
- ISSN
- 0886-2605 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-6518
- OpenAlex
- W2189430462
- Cited by
- 47
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 2.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Interpersonal Violence (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Elder Abuse and Neglect
- Keywords
- intimate partner violence, social support, stages of change, IPV survivors, shelter residents, structural social support, functional social support, social support satisfaction, ambivalence, decision-making, intervention tailoring
- MeSH terms
- Intimate Partner Violence, Adult, Cross-Sectional Studies, Decision Making, Female, Humans, Personal Satisfaction, Social Support, Survivors
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