The Role of Positivity on Depressive Symptoms in Women Seeking Help for Intimate Partner Violence

Eleonora Crapolicchio (), Vincenza Cinquegrana and Camillo Regalia
Additional contact information
Eleonora Crapolicchio: Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, 20123 Milan, Italy
Vincenza Cinquegrana: Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Camillo Regalia: Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, 20123 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex and pervasive global phenomenon. Despite extensive research on physical and sexual violence, there has been a relative lack of investigation into the detrimental and distinctive consequences of psychological violence against women. This is surprising given the profound impact it has on the psychological well-being of victims, notably in the form of depression, which is commonly observed as an outcome in cases of psychological IPV victimization. The present study analyzes the impact of psychological IPV on depressive symptoms, considering the moderating influence of personal positivity, defined as positive self-perceptions, optimistic life perspectives, and a hopeful view of the future in a sample of 171 Italian women seeking assistance from anti-violence centers in different localities of Italy. The findings show that in line with the hypothesis, the association between psychological violence and depressive symptoms is moderated by the levels of perceived positivity, even when controlling for instances of physical violence. These results and implications for interventions are discussed within the framework of existing literature on positive psychology and psychological well-being in the context of IPV.

Keywords: depression; intimate partner violence; positivity; positive psychology; psychological violence; revictimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/22/7078/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/22/7078/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:22:p:7078-:d:1282814

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().