Making Meaning Out of Interpersonal Victimization.

Lim, Ban Hong (Phylice); Valdez, Christine E.; Lilly, Michelle M.

Research examining meaning-making in the aftermath of interpersonal victimization among women has been restricted by quantitative methods and a focus on single distressing event. Qualitative methods were used to inspect meaning-making cognitions among a community sample of IPV (intimate partner violence) survivors. Consensus coding resulted in eight categories of meaning-making. The most widely endorsed cognition was self-blaming. Other strategies included justification for the abuser, normalizing violence, attribution to karmic or godly intervention, minimization and social comparison, reappraisal/opportunity for growth, absence of a protective figure, and failure to make sense of abuse. Implications with respect to adaptiveness and intervention are discussed.

ABUSED women; PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation; AUTHORSHIP; CRACK cocaine; FAMILIES; INTERVIEWING; RESEARCH methodology; QUESTIONNAIRES; VIOLENCE; WOMEN; QUALITATIVE research; EMPIRICAL research; QUANTITATIVE research; THEMATIC analysis; CROSS-sectional method; INTIMATE partner violence

Violence Against Women, 2015, Vol 21, Issue 9, p1065

1077-8012

Academic Journal

10.1177/1077801215590670