Self-perception, psychopathology and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in women exposed to domestic violence

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between cognitive emotion regulation strategies, self-perception and psychopathology in women exposed to violence. Women who were exposed to violence and women in the control group who were not exposed to violence were also assessed for cognitive emotional regulation strategies, self-perception and mental health differences. Methods: A total of 207 women of which 121 were exposed to domestic violence and 86 were not exposed to domestic violence, were included. The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), the Social Comparison Scale (SCS), the Symptom Check List (SCL-90-R), the Severity of Violence Against Women (SVAW), a survey including verbal and economic violence experiences and a sociodemographic characteristics and information form were given to all participants. Results: The average age of the participants were 32,34±10,82; 46,6% were married and 59,9% were university graduates. The scores of SCL-90-R subscales and self-blame, catastrophizing, other blame which were the subscales of CERQ were significantly higher; self-perception scores were found to be significantly lower in women exposed to violence. There were significantly negative correlations between self-perception and all subscales of SCL-90-R. Also, there were significantly negative correlations between self-perception and self-blame, catastrophizing, acceptance which are cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Significant correlations were found between SCL-90-R subscales and cognitive emotion regulation strategies. The strategy of catastrophizing positively predicted somatization, anxiety, hostility levels; the strategy of acceptance positively predicted interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety levels and the strategy of putting into perspective negatively predicted the depression level. Conclusion: Domestic violence is a risk factor in terms of body, mind and soul integrity. In women exposed to violence, psychopathology levels were increasing and the self-perception was negatively affected as long as maladjusted cognitive emotional regulation strategies were used. Also, the symptoms of psychopathology were increasing with the negative self-perception. It was determined that self-perception, psychopathology symptom levels and maladjusted strategies tended to increase in women exposed to violence. Our findings can be a guide for generating intervention strategies for experts who work with women exposed to violence. Key Words: Violence, Domestic violence, Violence against women, Cognitive emotion regulation, Psychopathology, Self-perception.