Stay or Leave Abusive Dating Relationships: Portuguese Victims’ Reasons and Barriers

Sónia Caridade, Inês Pinheiro and Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis
Additional contact information
Sónia Caridade: Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), 4249-004 Porto, Portugal
Inês Pinheiro: Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), 4249-004 Porto, Portugal
Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis: Permanent Observatory Violence and Crime (OPVC), University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), 4249-004 Porto, Portugal

Social Sciences, 2020, vol. 9, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: The decision to stay or leave an abusive relationship is multifactorial and frequently involves a cyclic process involving several phases. This article presents a qualitative analysis regarding the reasons and barriers to stay or leave an abusive dating relationship, as well as the challenges that it implies. A semi-structured, in-depth interview was used to collect data from thirteen dating victims, aged 17–30 years and mainly female ( n = 12). The emotional and affective dependence of the partner and the belief that behaviour may change emerge as the main reasons presented by the victims to remain in an abusive relationship. Shame, fear of losing the partner, and failure to recognize the abusive relationship were reported as the main barriers to leave the abusive relationship, thus making it difficult to seek help. Understanding reasons to stay in, or barriers to leave, an abusive relationship is fundamental to promoting help-seeking behaviours in victims of dating violence (DV), particularly in the case of young people, since it has serious implications in the developmental pathway of this age group.

Keywords: dating violence (DV); victims of dating violence; young people; leave abusive relationships; stay in abusive relationships; help-seeking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/5/84/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/5/84/ (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:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:5:p:84-:d:358617

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

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