An investigation of wife-abuse and its relationship with women's mental health

AbstractViolence against women, which refers to any violent behavior that leads to sexual and physical damage and/or pain in women, counts as their main health and human right problem. Poor economic and social status of women in most societies coupled with cultural and religious biases as well as a frequent lack of supportive legislations have made wife-abuse a widely resorted solution on the part of partners. This descriptive study embarked on estimating mental problems among abuse victims. A sample of available 60 abused women referring to forensic department and a group of 60 randomly selected normal women were studied. The instruments consisted of a researcher-made demographic questionnaire, and MMPI and SCL-90-R tests. The findings showed that except for Lie, Hypomania, Hysteria and Schizophrenia according to MMPI, and except for Psychotism according to SCL-90-R, the abused group was suffering from more psychic problems as compared to the normal group. Also, the average education of the normal group was significantly higher than the abused group