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Comparing Battered and Nonbattered Women's Reasons for Staying in Intimate Relationships
David Mehlhausen-Hassoen1, Zeev Winstok2
1School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, Center for Research and Study of the Family, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel davidmh@univ.haifa.ac.il.
Violence and Victims
|April 6, 2026
Summary
Women stay in relationships due to a mix of positive reasons and negative barriers. Battered women face more barriers, but even they cite benefits, showing complex decision-making in intimate partner violence.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Criminology
Background:
- Intimate partner violence (IPV) research often simplifies women's reasons for staying.
- Existing theories like exchange theory and learned helplessness theory offer partial explanations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the distinct positive and negative reasons women stay in intimate relationships.
- To compare these reasons across women who have never, previously, or recently experienced battering.
- To examine the interplay between positive and negative motivations for staying.
Main Methods:
- A quantitative study involving 926 Israeli women using online questionnaires.
- Factor analysis to determine the structure of reasons for staying.
- Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlational analyses to compare groups and relationships between reasons.
Main Results:
- Factor analysis identified one factor for positive reasons and three for negative reasons (fear of failure, terror, captivity).
- Nonbattered women reported more positive reasons; recently battered women reported more negative reasons.
- Positive and negative reasons were negatively correlated, indicating a balancing effect.
Conclusions:
- Women's decisions to stay in relationships are complex, influenced by both perceived benefits and barriers.
- Findings challenge simplistic views of victims as solely choosing to stay or being trapped.
- The study advocates for nuanced interventions addressing both positive and negative factors in IPV situations.
Keywords:
barriers to leavingbattered womenexchange theoryintimate partner violencelearned helplessness theoryrelationship persistenceMore Related Videos
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