Revista nº 797

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19 Antonio Molina Rodríguez
Daño psíquico en mujeres víctimas de violencia de género
same response to violence of similar characteristics (7). Acute
psychic damage or damage manifested in the form of emotional
sequelae also varies in the case of chronic psychic damage (8).
Studies have demonstrated the association between the violence
against women, in all its different forms, and physical and mental
health (9,10,11,12). Moreover, it has been extensively shown
that there are great individual differences in the means of coping
a stressful situation, and that these differences in response will
determine the effects of such experiences, both in the short-
term response and in the long-term effects upon the health (13).
Therefore, the personal manners of coping largely determine the
individual differences in the psychological responses in stressful
contexts (14).
The emotional stability of women sums up their capacity to
cope with emotions, the level of tolerance to frustration, and their
tendency to experience anxiety. When this stability remains at
medium-high levels, it indicates a greater capacity to better face
the traumatic events which we interpret as a lesser psychological
vulnerability. In exploring these differences in response, we found
studies about the influence of factors such as age (15); personality
(16); the type of violence (17,11); the relationship between the
victim and the aggressor (18); the duration (17); the frequency
(19), among others.
In the present contribution, we study the relationship
between the emotional stability of a non-clinical sample of women
who suffered violence and the psychic damage, as measured by
the GHQ-28. We considered additional factors such as age, the
relationship between the victim and the aggressor, the type and the
persistence of the violence.
We hope to determine that the greater emotional stability of
the woman is associated with a greater level of psychic resistance
to violence, manifesting lesser psychic damage and a better
preparation to overcome the vital traumatic event successfully.
Psychic vulnerability expresses a lesser degree of psychological
resistance of the individual in the face of traumatic events; it
coincides with a reduced capacity to cope and elaborate the
experiences that represent suffering.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1. Sample.
The population of study consisted of 151 women who had
reported intimate partner aggressions (aged 18-75 years; mean
= 38.5 ± 10.64). All the women had presented a criminal court
accusation, in the judicial area of Eastern Andalucia (Spain)
of gender violence. Previous to our study there was no clinical
intervention or specific protection of any sort.
2.2. Instruments and Evaluative Measures.
The data were processed by the Unit of Medical-forensic
Evaluation of Family Violence of the Department of Legal Medicine,
University of Granada (Spain) between 2002 and 2008.
By means of a semi-structured survey and psycho-diagnostic
examination, we obtained data relative to medical, psychological
and psychiatric aspects. In all the cases, the assessment was
requested by a court Judge. We obtained the written consent of the
victim, and to carry it out we went to the family setting to obtain
information in the family context most immediate.
2.2.1. Psychological-Psychiatric Variables.
2.2.1.1. Emotional stability.
This was evaluated using the Questionnaire of 16 personality
factors (16PF), version C (20), adapted to Spanish population (21).
This tool is designed to evaluate the personality profile. The items
are grouped into 16 factors of the first order: Affectivity, Intelligence,
Emotional Stability, Dominance, Impulsivity, Conformity to the
Group, Sensitivity, Mistrust, Imagination, Cleverness, Apprehension,
Openness to change, Self-sufficiency, Self-control, and Anxiety;
and four of the second order (Anxiety, Extraversion, Control of
Socialization and Independence). The factors were scored on a Likert
scale from 1 to 10. “Emotional stability” is understood to express
maturity, a good management of emotions, feelings and impulses,
with a low tendency toward anxiety and good tolerance in the face
of adverse situations. We considered “emotional stability” from two
standpoints: as a independent and unique factor, and in association
with the rest of the factors of the PF16; in this sense we refer to it as
“associated factors”. We grouped the women as either “emotionally
stable” (ES) or “emotionally unstable” (EU).
“Emotional stability” as a single factor was assigned a score
from 0 to 10. A score of 5-6 would be considered mid-range, ≤ 4
indicative of emotional instability and a score of ≥ 7 is indicative of
emotional stability.
Given that the focus was emotional stability, any further
information provided by the 16PF was not analyzed.
2.2.1.2. General health.
Evaluated using the Goldberg General Health Questionnaire
(GHQ-28), abbreviated version (22), validated for Spanish
population (23). This tool was originally designed to measure the
risk of developing non-psychotic psychiatric disorders, and was later
applied for the detection of psychosocial problems in the general
population.Ithasfou somaticsymptoms),GHQ-B
(anxiety), GHQ-C (withdrawal) and GHQ-D (depression), which are
scored binomially (0 = no symptoms; 1 = symptoms). The maximum
score of each one of the subscales is 7 points, > 4 points the need
for pharmacological treatments is considered necessary. The T-GHQ
gathers the total score of the four subscales, meaning a maximum
of 28 points. Up to 8 points is considered to be an “acceptable” level
of general health; 9-16 points is “moderately affected”; and ≥ 17
points signals that the level of health is “substantially affected”, in
which case pharmacological treatment is deemed necessary.
2.2.2. Epidemiological variables.
We consider the following information: 1) Age (at the time
of the accusation); 2) Type of violence, either “psychic violence”,
when consisting of insults, contempt, coercion, threats, or
control behaviors; and “complex violence”, when, in addition to
the above, there was physical abuse entailing blows of different
intensity, the use of weapons, or sexual violence; 3) Relationship
with the aggressor, which we classified as either “stable”, when
the couple was legally bound or persistently liming together,
or “transitory” for couples who were together occasionally;
4) Persistence of violence, categorized as “habitual” or “not
habitual”, these terms used in following the judicial criteria of
Spain of the severity of criminal behavior, whereby more than
three aggressions constitute “habitual” conduct.
2.2.3. Statistical method.
Descriptive analysis of the epidemiological data, to
“emotional stability”, and the scores of the four subscales and
T-GHQ. This study considered the distribution of frequencies
when the variables were qualitative. In the case of quantitative
variables, other basic means of summing up were added to the
distribution of frequencies.
Thewomenwere grouped using the conglomerated k-means
method, determining the number by means of the Calinski
methodology. The variable that we denominated “associated
factor” characterized quite precisely these two groups of women
in terms of the association of “emotional stability” with the rest
of the 16PF factors.
Bivariate analysis, through simple linear regression, was
applied to the following correlations:
a) Between the epidemiological variables and the score of
the GHQ-28; b) Between the score in “emotional stability” and the