RT Article
T1 When "the Dream Dies" But the Ideal Persists: Representations of the Couple Relationship and Its Connection To Intimate Partner Violence Experiences
JF Journal of interpersonal violence
VO 37
IS 17/18
A1 Lelaurain, Solveig
A2 Restivo, Léa
A2 Apostolidis, Thémis
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1884151973
AB Intimate partner violence (IPV) is now recognized internationally as a significant problem against which public action is being taken. However, victims commonly disclose little of this violence. The understanding of sociocultural factors that prevent women from talking about their male partner?s violence towards them thus appears to be an important issue. Using a qualitative approach, this study examines the representations that women survivors of IPV draw on to give meaning to the couple relationship and the links that these representations maintain with IPV and the help-seeking process. Nineteen women, who had previously experienced abuse from an intimate partner, participated in semi-structured interviews. Despite the experience of violence, an idealized vision of the couple relationship persists among the majority of respondents and conflicts with their experience of violence. This gap between an ideal and lived experience appears to be a major source of suffering for the participants who thus develop different strategies to preserve their ideal. These strategies appear to have the effect of minimizing and concealing violence.
K1 couple relationship
K1 Domestic Violence
K1 domestic violence and cultural contexts
K1 domestic violence experience
K1 social representations
DO 10.1177/08862605211023484