Citation

Domenech Del Rio I, Sirvent Garcia Del Valle E. J. Interpers. Violence 2016; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, Madrid, Spain.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0886260516676473

PMID

27807209

Abstract

This article uses data from the 2015 Spanish Survey on Violence Against Women, a nationally representative survey of 10,171 women aged 16 or above, to analyze the relationship between the severity of intimate partner violence and formal and informal help-seeking strategies, the link between the severity of abuse and the reasons for not seeking formal help, and the influence of social reactions to violence disclosure on the process of leaving a violent relationship. The results show that in Spain, many abused women disclose violence and seek help. However, the severity of the violence strongly determines their help-seeking strategies, especially the search for formal help. Women who experienced less severe incidents tended to minimize their importance and did not seek formal help. For informal help, the differences were smaller, and a high proportion of women talked about the abuse with someone within their social environment, regardless of the severity of the suffered violence. A supportive reaction to violence disclosure had a strong and positive influence on the process of leaving the abusive relationship. The implications of these findings for the design of public policies, education, and awareness-raising campaigns are discussed.

© The Author(s) 2016.

Language: en