Making the links: Intimate partner violence, coping and mental health among Chinese women

Abstract

Tremendous evidence showed that intimate partner violence against women led to detrimental impact on their mental health, in particular, anxiety, depression, psychosomatic symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder. To manage intimate partner violence, adopting different coping strategies may have different mental health outcomes. Inconsistence findings were noted in research on coping strategies and mental health outcomes in abused women. Specifically, passive coping strategies were found to have mediated the association between the level of violence and mental health in Caucasian women but such effect was not found in Asian women. Therefore, the links among intimate partner violence, coping and mental health among Chinese women deserves attention. This presentation will firstly discuss the mental health problems of Chinese abused women and then present the findings of a population-based household survey conducted in 550 Chinese community-dwelling women. The study examined the mediating role of coping strategies (problem-focused, emotion-focused and passive coping strategies) between the relationships of intimate partner violence and mental health outcomes by using structural equation models. The results showed that the mediating effect of problem-focused and passive coping strategies, but not emotion-focused coping, in the pathways of intimate partner violence and mental health outcomes (RMSEA=.06, CFI=.9, TLI=.9, and SRMSR=.06). Negative mental health outcomes significantly decreased by problem-focused coping (β=-5.2, 95% CI=-9.6, -.77, p=.021) and significantly increased by passive coping (β=4.7, 95% CI=1.2, 8.2, p=.008). The findings reinforced the significance of helping abused women find practical ways to deal with abuse and violence.