Interrelation of women’s psychological autonomy and violence in young couples

Abstract

Marital violence relations is becoming an increasingly urgent problem all around the world. The article presents an empirical study on the correlations between forms of partner’s violence and the psychological autonomy of young women, including its intrapersonal (differentiation of the self and personal maturity) and interpersonal (interpersonal dependence and attachment style) aspects. A non-linear relationship was found between the psychological autonomy of a woman and the level of violence from her partner. The most non constructive patterns of autonomy appear in families with an average (closer to low) level of violence. To a greater extent the characteristics of women’s attachment differ depending on the level of marital violence; to the least extent, the characteristics of differentiation of the self. There are specific relationships between the level of violence and women’s autonomy in families with different levels of violence. In general, there are more active reactions aimed at regulating the degree of intimacy / autonomy at a low level of violence, reactions of distancing and strengthening autonomy at an average level of violence, and more passive and dependent reactions - at a higher level (above average).