Intimate Partner Violence in Tunisia: Emotional Abuse and Dependency, Alexithymia, and Self-Esteem in Female Victims

Fatma Guermazi (), Faten Tabib, Farah Cherif, Rim Masmoudi, Dorra Mnif, Ines Feki, Imen Baâti and Jawaher Masmoudi
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Fatma Guermazi: Department of Psychiatry “A”, Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Faten Tabib: Department of Psychiatry “A”, Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Farah Cherif: Department of Psychiatry “A”, Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Rim Masmoudi: Department of Psychiatry “A”, Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Dorra Mnif: Department of Psychiatry “A”, Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Ines Feki: Department of Psychiatry “A”, Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Imen Baâti: Department of Psychiatry “A”, Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Jawaher Masmoudi: Department of Psychiatry “A”, Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Sfax 3029, Tunisia

Social Sciences, 2024, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: Despite legislative advances in Tunisia, intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a widespread issue where cultural norms and systems often reinforce silence and male authority over women. This study aims to explore the characteristics of IPV and assess the emotional abuse, emotional dependency, alexithymia, and self-esteem among female victims. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study, involving 120 female victims of IPV who sought expertise at the Psychiatric Emergency Department in Sfax, Tunisia. The data were collected through individual medical visits using the Emotional Abuse Scale (EAS), the Emotional Dependence Questionnaire (EDQ), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Of the 120 women who agreed to participate in this study, 75.8% were affected by severe emotional violence, 38.3% were emotionally dependent on their spouses, 59.2% were alexithymic, and 83.3% had low self-esteem. The emotional abuse scores were positively correlated with emotional dependency scores ( p = 0.026; rho = 0.204). The presence of alexithymia among the victims was significantly correlated with their emotional dependency on their husbands ( p = 0.004). Our findings confirm that considering women’s emotional profiles can have important implications for designing both preventive and effective interventions.

Keywords: intimate partner violence; victims; emotional abuse; emotional dependency; alexithymia; self-esteem (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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