Battered Women's Evaluations of Their Intimate Partners as a Possible Mediator Between Abuse and Self-Esteem

This study examined whether battered women's evaluations of their intimate partners mediate the relationship between the abuse they experience and their self-esteem. The sample consisted of 196 battered women seeking services from seven shelters. Results provide empirical evidence against theoretical postulates about battered women's idealization of their abusive partners and against the hypothesized mediating role of partner evaluations in the association between intimate partner violence and women's self-esteem. The overall findings imply ongoing changes in a battered woman's internal state as she goes through different developmental stages in her process of breaking away from the cycle of intimate partner violence.