Journal of Family Violence, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1990
The Role of Emotional Abuse in Physically
Abusive Relationships
Diane R. Follingstad, 1 Larry L. Rutledge, 1 Barbara J. Berg, 1
Elizabeth S. Hause, and Darlene S. Polek 1
Two hundred thirty four women were interviewed to assess the relationship
o f emotional abuse to physical abuse. Six major types o f emotional abuse
were identified. Analyses determined if the types o f emotional abuse were
related to the frequency and severity o f physical abuse. Women in long-term
abusive relationships were contrasted with women experiencing only shortterm abuse. Other comparisons consisted of" women who thought emotional abuse was worse than physical abuse vs. women who thought the opposite; and women who could predict physical abuse from the emotional abuse
were compared with those who couM not. The extent to which the women
believed the men's threats and ridicule or thought their abusive behavior was
justified was used as a factor to determine the impact o f emotional abuse.
Future research shouM investigate emotional abuse patterns in nonbattering
relationships fo r comparison with battered women's experiences.
KEY WORDS: emotional abuse; physical abuse; relationship abuse.
INTRODUCTION
Wife abuse is a complex phenomenon that has been investigated from
many perspectives to determine causes and related factors. What has not been
considered to date is the role that emotional abuse may have in physically
abusive relationships. Some authors have reported that emotional abuse frequently coexists with physical abuse (Martin, 1976; Walker, 1984), which
would support the idea that emotional abuse may be an important element
in battering relationships. The study o f psychological abuse in abusive rela~Deaprtment of Psychology,Universityof South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208.
107
0885-7482/90/0600-0107506.0/0 @ 1990 Plenum Publishing Corporation
108
Follingstad et aL
tionships is still in its infancy. There is no systematic, empirical documentation to currently substantiate any relationship between types of emotional
abuse and patterns of physical violence. The current evidence is anecdotal,
theoretical, and fragmentary at best.
It is interesting to note that few researchers have tried to investigate
the concept of psychological abuse in and of itself. This has not been an area
in which researchers have appeared eager to delve, perhaps because it is so
difficult to define. One early researcher, DeGregoria (1987), investigated the
relationship of sex role attitudes and women's perceptions of psychological
abuse. But her study did not specifically operationalize the examples of emotional abuse. Hoffman (1984) interviewed 25 women who volunteered as
"victims of psychological abuse by husbands or live-in lovers." Unfortunately,
this approach let the subjects themselves decide whether they experienced
emotional abuse.
Although physical forms of violence have certainly been more compelling to address in the research, psychological forms of abuse can also be
devastating. Indeed, some battered women described psychological degradation, fear, and humiliation as constituting the most painful abuse they experienced (Walker, 1984). This type of emotional abuse is seen as having
long-term debilitating effects on a woman's self-esteem (Ferraro, 1979), which
in turn diminishes her ability to cope with the abuse. The effects of psychological abuse therefore are seen as contributing to the cycle of violence in
which the battered woman is trapped.
Abusive partners often rely on the use of coercive power (e.g., threats
of severe physical harm) to establish dominance over the battered women.
Frieze (1979) found that violent husbands used coercive power whereas nonviolent husbands used rational power (e.g., appeals to experience or
knowledge). High levels of conflict and violence have been found in marriages where one spouse dominates the other (Coleman and Straus, 1986). It
appears from these findings that a relationship would exist between emotional abuse and the frequency and severity of physical attacks.
There are many varieties of emotional/psychological abuse. The types
chosen to be studied were expected to occur with a high frequency in battering relationships. They were considered to be more severe forms. The six
major types of emotional abuse are discussed below.
First of all, researchers have suggested that verbal attacks may happen
at other times and for other reasons than when physical force occurs (e.g.,
Walker, 1979, 1984). Specifically, clinical reports have indicated that ridicule,
verbal harassment, and name-calling (e.g., public humiliation) are present
in some physically abusive relationships. The function of this type of verbal
abuse appears to be one of control. By making the recipient of the ridicule
believe she is not worthwhile, she would remain within the power of the psychological abuser.
Emotional Abuse
109
Walker (1979, 1984) and Martin (1976) included isolation (either social
or financial) as a form of emotional abuse. They viewed actions by abusive
partners to systematically isolate women from social support systems and
deny them access to finances as having harmful repercussions on their independence. These forms of restriction add a practical problem to the women's diminished capacity to deal effectively with the abuse.
Walker (1979) and Martin (1976) also reported j ealousy/possessiveness
as a form of emotional abuse. Walker, in fact, felt that the abusive male
was jealous of everyone in the woman's life, including family, friends, and
even pets. Jealousy and possessiveness appear to become abusive when the
man harangues and interrogates his wife about strangers or other men with
whom she comes into contact. He may repeatedly accuse her of infidelity.
Jealousy may result in the man controlling the woman's behavior, (e.g., by
determining which clothes he will allow her to wear or by restricting her contact with other people).
Walker (1979) mentioned that the battered women she interviewed
reported verbal threats of abuse, harm, or torture as an additional form of
emotional abuse. The battered women reported these threats as being directed
toward members of her family, children, or even her friends. In addition,
threats have even involved graphic descriptions of how the man p!ans to
torture the woman.
Two other forms of psychological abuse were considered relevant for
study. Some abusing men will make repeated threats to divorce or abandon
their wives or to have an affair if the woman does not comply with their
wishes. Because this was considered emotional blackmail, these threats
represented another form of emotional abuse to be studied. The final type
of emotional abuse considered pertinent to this study was damage to or destruction of the personal property of the woman. For example, battered women
have related that the men would select their favorite personal objects and
destroy them (e.g., cut up their clothes or tear up favorite pictures in front
of them).
There are a number of important questions that have not yet been assessed about emotional abuse. For example, it is unknown whether
emotional/mental forms of abuse are always or even consistently present in
abusive relationships. Various types o f emotional abuse may not have similar effects on the battered women. Therefore, it is important to determine
whether some types of emotional abuse are deemed worse than others. Also,
it is unknown whether the types of emotional abuse mentioned by previous
researchers (e.g., Martin, 1976; Walker, 1979, 1984) are actually the most
prevalent forms or whether the other types identified in this study are more
frequent. It is important to determine whether specific emotional abuse types
are related to the frequency of physical abuse. It is likely that some types,
such as ridicule or jealousy, might actually be present shortly before physi-
110
Foilingstad et
aL
cal abuse occurs and might allow for the prediction of violence. Certain types
of emotional abuse may be present in long-term abusive relationships more
than in short-term ones, simply due to the evolution of emotional abuse in
the relationship (e.g., restriction, threats of abuse). Walker's report that some
battered women view emotional abuse as worse than physical abuse suggests
that analyses should be conducted to determine what factors are related to
the different perceptions. It is not currently known whether emotional abuse
is definitely a precipitator for physical force. Thus, this study compared women who could predict physical abuse after being emotionally battered with
those women who could not make that prediction.
If battered women experienced emotional abuse, but did not believe
what was being said or did not feel the man was justified in his behavior,
they may not be affected by it. Therefore, the woman's reaction seems to
be an important factor as a mediating variable. In this study, believability,
and justifiability were assessed to obtain a more accurate picture of the actual intensity of the emotional abuse and its effects on the victim. Impact
of high versus low levels of psychological abuse interacting with high and
low levels of believability/justifiability was investigated. Outcome variables
for these analyses were negative effects on the women (whether behavioral,
attitudinal, or distress) and whether women made attempts to change what
was happening.
METHOD
Subjects
Two hundred thirty-four women with some history of physical abuse
volunteered to be interviewed and answer questions about the relationship
in which they were battered. Physical abuse was defined as an aggressive physical act that either caused or had the potential to cause physical harm. Sixtyone (26%) of the women had three or fewer incidents of abuse with no further incidents for at least two years. The rest of the women were classified
as experiencing long-term, ongoing abusive relationships. The mean age of
the women was 36.6, with the age range extending from 19 to 64. The aggressive male partners were slightly older, with a mean age of 39.2 and an
age range of 21 to 80. Eighty-one percent of the women were White, 17%
were African Americans, and 2% were Asian Americans. The mean number
of children was 1.85, with a range of 0 to 6 children. Most of the women
(N = 201) reported being out of the relationship with 33 still remaining in
the relationship. Subjects were solicited from a wide variety of sources (e.g.,
newspaper, television, and radio announcements, bus advertisements, and
Emotional Abuse
111
flyers describing the study placed at the women's prison, at the Department
of Social Services, at the local shelter and its support groups, at churches,
and in doctors' offices and emergency rooms).
Interviewers
Interviewers were female undergraduate and graduate psychology students. They were required to complete training before conducting interviews.
Training consisted of reading selected books and articles on domestic violence and rehearsing interview situations to practice handling problem situations. Supervision was ongoing by the faculty member who sponsored the
research team.
Measure
An extensive questionnaire was designed and adapted for a telephone
interview format. The questionnaire was pilot-tested to determine whether
rewording items or changing the format of questions was necessary. The average time necessary to complete the questionnaire was approximately 2-1/2 hr.
The strengths of this questionnaire included the following: (a) The
majority of questions were devised to collect objective and specific facts rather
than subjects' opinions. Therefore, specific pieces of data were used to measure variables (e.g., asking for actual injuries as opposed to the battered women's subjective opinions of the severity of the injuries). (b) Data were coded
at the time of the questionnaire with the subject's help rather than coding
being done by the interviewers at a later date and time. Thus, the woman's
response was placed into one of the preformed categories, with the subject
helping to determine which category most closely corresponded to her answer.
Although there are many problems in collecting information from
abused women, self-report questionnaires appear to be the "state of the art."
Situational observation is impossible to conduct especially when a long-term
problem with historical roots is being evaluated. The needed anonymity generally prevents a variety of assessment procedures from being conducted, because some women could suffer additional negative consequences if their
partners knew of their research participation. It is also difficult to collect
corroborative information from other individuals who might know of the
abuse. Writers emphasize the "privacy" of the abuse experience, because even
family and friends rarely know of the existence or extent of the abuse (Star,
1980; Walker, 1979). The abusive partner has much to lose from honestly
reporting abusive behavior toward his partner. Therefore, he is typically not
a reliable source. The high correlation of alcohol use with abuse incidents
112
Foilingstad et
aL
(Rosenbaum and O'Leary, 1981; Walker, 1979) may also result in difficulty
recalling the abuse episodes. For all these reasons, information is usually collected from the female victim of abuse.
From the questionnaire, specific items were used for the analyses. The
following information delineates the items and their scoring. Examples for
each category of emotional abuse were listed. If subjects reported they had
experienced any of the examples, they were classified as having experienced
that general type. Frequency of each type of emotional abuse was scored
on a scale of 1-7, ranging from daily to once a year or less. Once frequencies
were determined, a near median split resulted in a high frequency group
versus a low frequency group. High frequency emotional abuse occurred once
a week or more. Low frequency was determined as occurring several times
a month or less. Each type of emotional abuse was scored according to the
impact on the battered woman (i.e., 1 = negative effects, 2 = neutral, or
3 = positive effects) (e.g., emotional abuse made it easier for her to leave).
Subjects were also asked to choose which of the six types of emotional abuse
was the worst one for them. The battered women rated on a 5-point Likert
scale (1 = not at all, 5 = very much) how believable or justifiable they felt
each type of emotional abuse to be. If the women tried to make any changes
after experiencing the emotional abuse, the attempts at change were rated
as having resulted in a positive, neutral, or negative effect. Total negative
effects of emotional abuse were assessed by determining the presence of 15
behavioral, emotional, and attitudinal characteristics. Examples of behavioral
effects were passivity and social isolation. Examples of emotional effects were
fear of men, shame, and depression. Examples of attitudinal effects were loss
of self-esteem and acceptance of responsibility for the incidents. The presence
of any negative effects were summed for the analyses. Subjects were categorized according to whether they thought the negative effects were a result of
emotional abuse itself versus those who thought the effects were negative
because physical abuse was related to the emotional abuse.
Subjects rated whether emotional abuse or physical abuse had a more
severe impact on them. The subjects were also asked if emotional abuse helped
them to predict the occurrence of physical abuse. For these two variables,
subjects had only two options. The battered women reported on a scale of
1-4 how emotional abuse progressed in their relationship over time (1 =
decreased, 4 = increased). Subjects were also asked to consider what happened when emotional abuse was high in the relationship to see if it had an
effect on the frequency of physical abuse.
The frequency of physical abuse was assessed in a variety of ways. Subjects rated the frequency of abuse in the first six months on a scale of 1-8
(1 = daily, 8 = one time only). This variable was called the frequency at
onset of the abuse. The highest frequency of physical abuse ever to occur
Emotional Abuse
113
in a six-month period was also determined. Subjects reported whether the
frequency of the violence decreased, remained the same, fluctuated, or increased. This variable was considered the change in frequency over time. Injuries were recorded for subjects' first, second, third, typical, and worst
abusive incidents. These were then recoded as minor, moderate, or severe
injuries. Minor injuries included small lacerations and minor bruises while
moderate injuries included choke marks, black eyes, and swelling. Severe
injuries included broken bones, internal injuries, and unconsciousness.
RESULTS
Two hundred twenty nine of the 234 women in this study reported having experienced at least one incident of emotional abuse (EA). Only three
women reported never experiencing any incident of emotional abuse. The
vast majority of the women (72%) reported experiencing four or more types
of emotional abuse. Only six women reported experiencing only one type
of abuse and 53 women reported two or three types.
Table I gives the descriptive data for the six types of emotional abuse,
including the number of women reporting each type. It also shows the percentage of these women who reported a high frequency of EA and the percentage of these women who felt it had a negative impact on them.
More women reported experiencing ridicule than any other type of EA.
But threats of abuse, jealousy, and restriction all occurred for a large percentage of the women in the sample as well. Restriction was surprisingly the
type of EA that occurred most frequently at a high rate for the subjects who
experienced it. However, jealousy and ridicule also occurred at high rates.
Of the six types of EA, ridicule was reported as having a negative impact by the highest percentage of subjects. Threats of abuse was the second
most negatively impacting type. Damage to property showed the most posiTable !. Descriptive Statistics on the Six Types of Emotional Abuse
Type of EA
Threats of abuse
Ridicule
Jealousy
Threats to change
marriage
Restriction
Damage to
property
N
Percentage
high
frequency
Percentage
negative
impact
Percentage
rated worst
type EA
174
211
170
41.4%
64.5%
68.2%
79.5070
85.6%
67.607o
14.9%
45.7%
12.2%
113
184
37.2%
74.4%
62.5%
66.4%
5.9070
10.4%
137
15.3%
61.8%
4.5%
114
Follingstad et al.
tive effects (i.e., those which could make it easier for a woman to decide
to leave an abusive relationship or motivate her to make changes in the relationship). Of the battered women, 30.4% reported damage to their property
as a motivating factor. Threats to change the relationship was the one category
that produced a fair amount of neutral effects (24.5% of the women). But
this was also the least frequently occurring type of emotional abuse (N = 113).
Battered women rated ridicule/verbal harassment as the worst type of
emotional abuse for them (see Table I), with 45.70/o of the sample (N = 101)
choosing this type. The data also suggested that it was one of the three most
frequently occurring types of EA, so it was not surprising that ridicule/verbal
harassment was viewed as the worst type for the highest percentage of women.
The frequency of each type of emotional abuse was entered into a
MANOVA as the independent variable to determine its relationship with the
frequency of physical abuse (PA). The frequency of P A included the frequency of the abuse at its onset as well as changes over time and the highest
frequency ever. The severity of injuries which women experienced during
first, second, third, typical, and worst physical abuse incidents were also included as dependent variables. None of the individual types of EA was related
to the severity of injuries nor to the frequency of PA.
The six types of EA were also used as dependent variables in MANOVAs
to see if they were related to the status of the abusive relationship. Remaining in vs. having left an abusive relationship was not related to EA types.
However, several of the psychological abuse types were important for distinguishing women in short-term abusive relationships vs. long-term ones.
Threats of abuse, F(1,232) = 10.56,p < .001, jealousy, F(1,232) = 4.32,
p < .03, and restriction, F ( 1 , 2 3 2 ) = 11.88, = .0007, were the forms of
emotional abuse more frequently reported by women in long-term abusive
relationships.
Seventy-two percent (N = 159) of the battered women reported that
the emotional abuse had a more severe impact on them than the physical
abuse. A MANOVA compared the women who found EA to be worse with
those who found P A to be worse. The dependent variables were the presence
of the six types of EA. The overall MANOVA was significant, F(6, 214)
= 3.77, p < .001. Subsequent univariate analyses revealed that the presence
of ridicule and threats of a change in the relationship were more likely to
be present for women feeling the impact of EA was worse, F(1,219) = 8.75,
p < .003; F(1,219) = 15.75, p < .0001, respectively. However, overall frequency of all six types of EA did not differentiate whether battered women
felt E A or P A was worse for them, t(220) = .04, p = n.s.
Women reporting EA or P A as more negative for them did not differ
in making attempts to change the situation in response to the emotional abuse
they experienced, t(220) = .67, p = n.s. However, women who viewed EA
Emotional Abuse
115
as having a more severe impact were more likely to believe the m a n would
carry out the threats or that his behavior or claims were somehow justified,
t(218) = 2.89, p < .004. Women reporting EA as having a more severe impact
on them endorsed significantly more negative effects of the emotional abuse,
t(222) = 4.80, p < .0001.
W o m e n reporting E A as worse than P A were also significantly more
likely to report that the E A increased over time, t(222) = 2.96, p < .003.
In addition, they were more likely to feel the negative effects f r o m the E A
were just a result of the emotional abuse and n o t because the threat of physical harm was related to it, t(212) = - 2.95, p < .003. Interestingly enough,
for these two groups of women, there was no difference whether PA increased
or decreased when E A was high, t(209) = - .70, p = n.s. Also, the ability
to predict physical abuse incidents from the presence of EA did not differentiate these two groups of women, t(217) -- - . 6 4 , p = n.s.
It is interesting to note that women reporting EA as worse than PA
experienced the same degree of severity of typical PA incidents, t(179) =
.75, p = n.s., and the same frequency of abuse incidents during the first
six months of abuse, t(221) = .31, p = n.s., and subsequent 6-month segments of abuse.
Battered women who could use E A to predict P A incidents constituted
54.4~ of the sample ( N = 123). The other 45.6~ ( N = 103) claimed they
could not use the presence o f E A to make this prediction. These distinctive
groups were subjected to a M A N O V A with the following dependent variables: the six types of EA, the total negative effects, and the effects of change
attempts. The overall M A N O V A was significant, F(8,210) = 2.51, p < .01.
Subsequent univariate analyses revealed that threats of abuse, F ( 1 , 2 1 8 ) =
14.20, p < .0002, and restriction of the woman, F(1,218) = 4.35, p < .03,
were the significant variables. This means that battered women who were
more likely to experience threats of abuse and restriction also were more likely
to be able to predict when P A would occur. Threat of abuse was a very strong
predictor that P A would follow. Damage to property tended to be present
before P A occurred, F ( 1 , 2 1 8 ) = 3.31, p < .07. It is important to note that
the ability to predict P A f r o m EA did not result in fewer negative effects,
F(1,218) = 2.17, p = n.s., nor did it result in more attempts by the w o m a n
to change the situation, F(1, 218) = .04, p = n.s.
High and low levels of each type of E A were introduced as one factor
in a M A N O V A . The other factor consisted of high and low levels of the believability or justifiability of the psychological abuse. No significant differences were found in the M A N O V A s for threats of abuse, jealousy, and
ridicule on the total negative effects of EA nor on effects of change attempts
the w o m a n made. However, all three forms of emotional abuse had significant univariate analyses for the total negative effects. Post hoc analyses in-
Follingstad et
116
aL
dicated that the high E A - h i g h believability group was significantly different
from the low E A - l o w believability group, F(3,166) = 3.25, p < .02, F(3,
158) = 3.01, p < .03, and F(3, 204) = 2.91, p < .03, respectively.
How often abusing men threatened to make changes in the relationship and how believable this was to the woman were significant with the same
dependent variables, F(9, 303) = 2.42, p < .01. The total negative effects,
F(3, 101) = 4.82, p < .005, and whether attempts at change worked, F(3,
101) = 4.23, p < .007, were both significant in univariate tests. Post hoc
analyses found the differences occurred between the high E A - high believability vs. the low E A - l o w believability groups for the negative effects. The
differences in effects of the women's change attempts occurred between the
high E A - h i g h believability and high E A - l o w believability groups. Thus,
if the woman believed the man would change the status o f the relationship
when he frequently threatened to do so, she was more likely to have a negative resuk when trying to make changes than the woman who did not believe
the man (even though he frequently threatened to change the relationship).
The frequency of restriction by the man also interacted significantly
with the woman's belief that the restriction was justified on his part, F(9,
510) = 3.03, p < .001. A univariate analysis, F(3,170) = 8.48, p < .0001,
indicated that the least negative effects were found in the low E A - l o w believability group, different from all the others.
Damage to property (high and low) and justifiability (high vs. low) did
not yield a significant MANOVA on negative effects or change attempts,
F(9, 381) = 1.24, p = n.s.
DISCUSSION
A fairly high rate of emotional abuse was expected in battered women's relationships in this study. However, it was surprising to find such a
high prevalence of emotional abuse. Ninety-nine percent of the women had
experienced psychological abuse. Because approximately one-fourth of the
women had experienced only a small number of physical incidents, the
researchers did not expect them to have emotional abuse in their relationships. This was not the case probably because relationships with just a small
number of violent incidents could still have experienced ridicule, strong
jealousy, or even threats of a change in the relationship. Unfortunately, there
are no norms for nonabusive relationships for comparing the amount of emotional abuse reported in this study. However, many of the abused women
reported a high frequency of the individual psychological abuse types. This
would suggest that physically abusive relationships may have more emotional
abuse than nonabusive relationships. A comparison with an appropriate con-
Emotional Abuse
117
trol group is needed to make stronger statements about the coexistence of
physical and emotional abuse.
The fact that such a large number of women reported emotional abuse
at a high rate (i.e., once a week or more) supports the anecdotal information first discussed by Walker (1979, 1984) and Martin (1976). In fact, the
three types o f emotional abuse discussed in Walker's (1979) book (i.e.,
jealousy, verbal harassment/criticism, and social isolation due to restriction)
were the three types of emotional abuse that were found in this study to be
reported at the highest frequencies.
It was thought that threats of abuse or damage to the woman's property
might be the forms of psychological abuse with the most negative effects
due to the fear that they would engender. Instead, ridicule was the type of
emotional abuse reported by the highest percentage of subjects as most negative for them. In addition, subjects who felt emotional abuse was worse than
physical abuse experienced significantly more ridicule than women who
thought that physical abuse was worse. It is possible that women experience
fear in response to destruction of their property or the men's threats, but
view those problems as existing inside the men or due to mental difficulties
rather than meaning anything about themselves. Perhaps the most destructive form of emotional abuse (i.e., ridicule) attacks the women's sense of
self-esteem and destroys their ability to feel good about themselves. This
might, in turn, render them more helpless and worthless in their own eyes.
More qualitative information and interpretation are needed from battered
women to understand their ranking of ridicule as so destructive.
The characteristics that distinguished battered women who perceived
emotional abuse as worse from those who felt the physical abuse was worse
raised some interesting ideas. Whereas Walker (1984) had simply reported
that some of her respondents felt emotional abuse was worse, these data were
useful for determining why. The fact that the battered women experienced
the same amount of emotional abuse and the same frequency and severity
of physical abuse suggested that factors other than these influenced their impression o f which type of abuse was worse for them. Frequently occurring
ridicule and threats to change the marital relationship were more devastating to the women who felt the emotional abuse was worse, because they
thought these were harmful in and of themselves whether or not physical
abuse occurred. Also for them, the emotional abuse increased over time such
that they experienced more negative effects and either believed what the men
said or felt they were probably justified in their emotionally abusive actions.
It is possible that the battered women also felt emotional abuse was worse,
because they could not even use it to predict when physical abuse would occur. Therefore, there was no function they could ascribe to it to make the
emotional abuse easier for them to handle.
118
Follingstad et al.
It is important to note that the best prognosticators of the ability to
predict physical abuse from emotional abuse were the types of emotional
abuse that were present. The three types that predicted physical abuse made
conceptual sense. It may be that threats to abuse will conjure up imagery
of physical incidents and therefore loosen inhibitions against using physical
means for the man. Restriction of the woman may imply a need for greater
control over her at the time, which may suggest a build-up of tension for
the abusing man. And, damage to the woman's property may be an initial
destructive step that translates easily into damaging the woman.
Woman who experienced high levels of emotional abuse and were more
likely to believe it showed consistent differences in relation to women experiencing little emotional abuse and also not believing it. Significantly more
negative effects were present in the high emotional a b u s e - h i g h believability group. Thus, believing the man or feeling he is justified in his emotional
abuse are important only when the emotional abuse occurs at a high level.
If frequent threats of abuse in the past were followed with actual abuse incidents, this would undoubtably lead to increased fear every time threats occurred later on. Low self-esteem could occur if the woman believed the man
was justified in ridiculing her, in threatening to leave the relationship, or in
restricting her behavior. If these forms of abuse occurred at a high rate, the
low self-esteem would be continuously reinforced. High levels of jealousy
and possessiveness that the woman felt the man was justified in expressing
could lead to anxiety-arousing interrogations by the man of the woman's actions. It is possible that the woman might even restrict her own behavior
so that the man would have no reason to question her actions.
Limitations of this study included the following: There was no normative comparison group, whether of women in general or even women in distressed marriages without abuse, with which to contrast the battered women's
rates and types of emotional abuse. Thus, it is difficult to state with any certainty what the high frequency of emotional abuse in physically abusive relationships means. This study was somewhat difficult to contrast with other
studies on psychological abuse, because the focus in this study was on a finite
number of events defined as emotional abuse. While concentrating on six
types of emotional abuse allowed for a more in-depth study of those forms
in physically abusive relationships, the more narrow focus does not allow
for comparison. This study had a reasonable proportion of minority women, but certainly could benefit from replication with a larger minority population, especially including more Hispanic and Asian American women. A
fourth limitation deals with the lack of reliability or validity information on
the questions asked of the women in the interview. Because most of the items
were factual, this may not be as serious a concern than if an attitudinal construct were being measured.
Emotional Abuse
119
This has been a b e g i n n i n g i n v e s t i g a t i o n into the r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n
e m o t i o n a l a n d p h y s i c a l abuse. S o m e initial questions a b o u t prevalence a n d
f r e q u e n c y o f e m o t i o n a l a b u s e in p h y s i c a l l y abusive r e l a t i o n s h i p s have been
investigated. H o w e v e r , d i f f e r e n t c a t e g o r i z a t i o n s o f the w o m e n on the v a r i a ble o f e m o t i o n a l abuse yielded a d d i t i o n a l dimensions to p r o m o t e u n d e r s t a n d ing o f the r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n e m o t i o n a l a n d p h y s i c a l abuse. W h i l e the
analyses c o n t i n u e to raise questions, it a p p e a r s t h a t the next step w o u l d be
to assess a n o r m a t i v e g r o u p to u n d e r s t a n d the incidence o f e m o t i o n a l a b u s e
in the g e n e r a l p o p u l a t i o n . Such i n f o r m a t i o n w o u l d a l l o w for c o m p a r i s o n
o f b a t t e r i n g r e l a t i o n s h i p s with n o n b a t t e r i n g r e l a t i o n s h i p s to assess w h e t h e r
e m o t i o n a l a b u s e occurs at d i f f e r e n t rates.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T h e a u t h o r s wish to t h a n k the H a r r y F r a n k G u g g e n h e i m F o u n d a t i o n
f o r its g r a n t s u p p o r t o f this research. The a u t h o r s wish to also t h a n k the
U n i v e r s i t y o f S o u t h C a r o l i n a ' s V e n t u r a F u n d for its p a r t i a l s u p p o r t o f this
p r o j e c t . T h e a u t h o r s wish to t h a n k the interviewers w h o collected the d a t a
with the p a r t i c i p a n t s .
REFERENCES
Ball, P. G., and Wyman, E. (1978). Battered wives and powerlessness. What can counselors
do? Victimology: Int. J. 2: 545-552.
Berg, B. J., and Brennen, A. F. (1984). The wife battering phenomena: A behavioral perspective. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans, La.
Coleman, D. H., and Straus, M. S. (1986). Marital power, conflict and violence in a nationally
representative sample of American couples. Viol. Vict. 1: 141-157.
DeGregoria, B. (1987). Sex role attitude and perception of psychological abuse. Sex Roles 16:
227-235.
Ferraro, K. J. (1979). Physical and emotional battering: Aspects of managing hurt. Calif. Sociologist 2: 134-149.
Follingstad, D. R. (1980). A reconceptualization of issues in the treatment of abused women:
A case study. Psychother. Theor. Res. Pract. 17: 294-303.
Frieze, I. H. (1979). Power and influence in violent and nonviolent marriages. Paper presented
at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Philadelphia, Pa.
Hanneke, C. R., and Shields, N. M. (1981). Patterns of family and non-family violence: An
approach to the study of violent husbands. Paper presented at the National Conference
of Family Violence Researchers, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.
Hoffman, P. (1984). Psychological abuse of women by spouses and live-in lovers. Women Ther.
3: 37-47.
Martin, D. (1976). Battered Wives, Glide Publications, San Francisco, Calif.
Rosenbaum, A., and O'Leary, K, D. (1981). Marital violence: Characteristics of abusive couples. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 49: 63-71.
120
Follingstad et aL
Schlesinger, L. B., Benson, M., and Zornitzer, M. (1982). Classification of violence behavior
for purposes of treatment planning: A three-pronged approach. In Roy, M. (ed.), The
Abusive Partner, Van Nostrand, New York, pp. 148-169.
Star, B. (1980). Patterns of family violence. Social Casework J. Contemp. Social Work 61:
339-346.
Walker, L. E. (1979). The Battered Woman, Harper and Row, New York.
Walker, L. E. (1984). The Battered Woman Syndrome, Springer Publishing Co., New York.