Definição, Prevalência, Causas e Efeitos

Carla Paiva & Bárbara Figueiredo^*

Departamento de Psicologia da Universidade do Minho

RESUMO: Este artigo trata a problemática do abuso no contexto do relacionamento íntimo com o companheiro. Neste contexto, apresenta a definição dos diferentes tipos de abuso - abuso físico, abuso sexual e abuso psicológico - e a prevalência com que os mesmos têm sido reportados em diversos países. Discute as possíveis causas do abuso, conceptualizadas no quadro da teoria da vinculação, que enfatiza o impacto da qualidade das relações significativas, nomeadamente com as figuras parentais, e particularmente o impacto das circunstâncias de abuso sofridas durante a infância, na construção dos "modelos internos dinâmicos", os quais, por sua vez, interferem no estabelecimento do relacionamento com o companheiro na idade adulta. Descreve ainda os efeitos do abuso, ao nível da saúde física e mental, procurando realçar a importância da qualidade das relações interpessoais significativas na saúde e bem-estar dos indivíduos na idade adulta.

Palavras chave: Abuso físico, Abuso psicológico, Abuso sexual, Relações íntimas, Saúde, Vinculação.

Abuse in the Context of Intimate Partner Relationship: ]]> Definition, Prevalence, Causes and Effects

ABSTRACT: This article refers to abuse phenomena in the context of intimate relationship with a partner. It presents a definition of the different kinds of abuse - physical abuse, sexual abuse, and psychological abuse - and the prevalence they have been reported in several countries. It shows the possible causes of abuse, conceptualized attending specifically to attachment theory, which emphasizes the impact of the quality of significant relationships during childhood, and particularly the impact of abusive circumstances on the construction of "internal working models", whose interferes on the quality of the relationship with a partner in adulthood. It makes reference also to the effects of abuse experiences in the scope of intimate relationships on physical and mental health of individuals, strengthening the importance of the quality of interpersonal significant relationships on health and well being of individuals during adulthood.

Key words: Health, Intimate relationships, Physical abuse, Psychological abuse, Sexual abuse.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

Full text only available in PDF format.

REFERÊNCIAS

Abbey, A., Ross, L.T., McDuffie, D., & McAuslan, P. (1996). Alcohol, misperception, and sexual assault: How and why are they linked. In D.M. Buss & N. Malamuth (Eds.), Sex, power, conflict: Feminist and evolutionary perspectives (pp. 138-161). London: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

Alexander, P.C. (1993). The differential effects of abuse characteristics and attachment in the prediction of long-term effects of sexual abuse. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 8, 346-362.

Bachman, R., & Saltzman, L.E. (1995). Violence against women: Estimates from the redesigned survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special report, U.S. Department of Justice, August.

Barnes, G., Greenwood, L., Sommer, R. (1991). Courtship Violence in a Canadian sample of male college students. Family Relations: Journal of Applied Family and Child Studies, 40, 37-44.

Barnett, O.W., Miller-Perrin, C.L., & Perrin, R.D. (1997). Family violence across the life span. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Bergman, L. (1992). Dating violence among high school students. Social Work, 37, 21-27.

Bowlby, J. (1988). Secure base. New York: Basic Books.

Bradbury, T., & Lawrence, E. (1999). Physical agression and the longitudinal course of newlywed marriage. In X.B. Arriaga & S. Oskamp (Eds.), Violence in intimate relationships (pp.181-209). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Breitenbecher, K.H., & Gidycz, C.A. (1998). An empirical evaluation of a program designed to reduce the risk of multiple sexual victimization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 4, 472-488.

Brennan, K., & Shaver, P. (1995). Dimensions of adult attachment, affect regulation, and romantic relationship functioning. Personality and Social Psychology Bullletin, 21, 267-283.

Campbell, J., & Lewandowski, L. (1997). Mental and physical effects of intimate partner violence on women and children. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 20, 353-374.

Carver, R.S. (2000). Dating Violence and its relation to identity, self-esteem, and silencing the self among college women. Dissertation Abstracts International, section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 60, 2702.

Cascardi, M., Langhinrichsen, J., & Vivian, D. (1992). Marital aggression: Impact, injury and health correlates for husbands and wives. Archives of Internal Medicine, 152, 1178-1184.

Cascardi, M., O'Leary, K.D., & Schlee, K.A. (1999). Co-occurrence and correlates of posttraumatic stress disorder and major depression in physically abused women. Journal of Family Violence, 14, 227-249.

Clark, C.L., Shaver, P., & Calverley, R.M. (1994). Adult attachment styles, remembered childhood abuse, and self-concept structure. Presented at the annual meeting of American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, CA.

Coffey, P., Leitenberg, H., Henning, K., Bennet, R.T., & Jankowski, M.K. (1996). Dating violence: The association between methods of coping and women's psychological adjustment. Violence and Victims, 11, 227-238.

Cohn, D., Silver, D., Cowan, C., Cowan, P., Pearson, J. (1992). Working models of childhood attachment and couple relationships. Journal of Family Issues, 13, 432-449.

Coker, A.L., Sanderson, M., Fadden, M., & Pirisi, L. (2000). Intimate partner violence and cervical neoplasia. Journal of Women's Health and Gender Based Medicine, 9, 1015-1023.

Coker, A., & Davis, K. (2001). Impact of intimate violence on men and women: Analysis of the NVAW Survey. Paper presented at 7th International Family Violence Research Conference. Portsmouth: New Hampshire.

Coker, A., Smith, P., Bethea, L., King, M., McKeown, R. (2000a). Physical health consequences of physical and psychological intimate partner violence. Archives of Family Medicine, 9, 1015-1023.

Conger, R.D., Cui, M., Bryant, C.M., & Elder, G.H. (2000). Competence in early adult romantic relationships: A developmental perspective on family influences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 224-237.

Crittenden, P.M., Partridges, M.F., & Claussen, A.H. (1991). Family patterns of relationship in normative and dysfunctional families. Development and Psychopathology, 3, 491-512.

Damásio, A.R. (1994). Descartes´s error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. New York: Putnam.

DeKerseredy, W.S., & Schwartz, M.D. (1998). Woman abuse on campus: Results from the Canadian national survey. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Dutton, D.G., Saunders, K., Starzomski, A., & Bartholomew, K. (1994). Intimacy-anger and insecure attachment as precursors of abuse in intimate relationships. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 1367-1386.

Dye, M., & Eckhardt, C. (2000). Anger, irrational beliefs and dysfunctional attitudes in violent dating relationships. Violence and Victims, 15, 337-350.

Emery, B.C., Cate, R.M., Henton, J.M., & Andrews, D. (1987). Perceived legitimizing factors in premarital violence. Paper presented at the Conference of the National Council on Family Relations, Atlanta, GA.

Figueiredo, B. (1998a). Maus tratos à criança e ao adolescente (I): Situação e enquadramento da problemática. Psicologia: Teoria, Investigação e Prática, 3, 5-20.

Figueiredo, B. (1998b). Maus tratos à criança e ao adolescente (II): Considerações a respeito do impacto desenvolvimental. Psicologia: Teoria, Investigação e Prática, 3, 197-216.

Figueiredo, B., Fernandes, E., Matos, R., & Maia, A. (2001). Maus tratos na infância: Impacto desenvolvimental na idade adulta. Actas do Congresso Internacional: Os Mundos Sociais e Culturais da Criança, 3, 99-111.

Figueiredo, B., Fernandes, E., Matos, R., & Maia, A. (2002). Maus Tratos na Infância: Trajectórias desenvolvimentais e intervenção psicológica na idade adulta. In R. Abrunhosa & C. Machado (coord.), Violência e vítimas de crimes, vol. I: Adultos (pp. 200-263). Coimbra: Quarteto Editora.

Gardner, A.K. (1996). Control issues and dating violence: Women's attitudes and experiences. Dissertation Abstracts International, section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 56, 5766.

Gelles, R.J., & Straus, M.A. (1988). Intimate Violence. New York: Simon & Schuster. Goldberg, W.G., & Tomlanovich, M.C. (1984). Domestic violence victims in the emergency department. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 251, 3259-3264.

Gottman, J.M., & Levenson, R.W. (1992). Marital processes predicting of later dissolution: Behavior, physiology, and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 221-233.

Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511-524.

Hazan, C., & Zeifman, D. (1999). Pair bonds as attachments: Evaluating the evidence. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications. London: Guilford Press.

Henry, J.P., & Stephens, P.M. (1977). Stress, health and the social environment. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Hofer, M.A. (1984). Relationships as regulators: A psychobiological perspective on bereavement. Psychosomatic Medicine, 46, 183-197.

Kilpatrick, D.G., Best, C.L., Saunders, B.E., & Vernon, L.J. (1988). Rape in marriage and dating relationships: How bad is it for mental health? Social Forces, 61, 484-507.

Kirkpatrick, L.A., & Davis, K.E. (1994). Attachment style, gender, and relationship stability: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 502-512.

Koss, M.P. (1988). Hidden rape: Sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of students in higher education. In A.W. Burgess (Ed.), Rape and sexual assault (pp. 3-25). New York: Garland.

Koss, M.P. (1993). Detecting the scope of rape: A review of prevalence research methods. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 8, 198-222.

Koss, M.P., Gidycz, C.A., & Wisniewski, N. (1987). The scope of rape: incidence and prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of higher education students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 162-170.

Koss, M.P., Koss, P., & Woodruff, W.J. (1991). Deleterious effects of criminal victimization on women's health and medical utilization. Archives of Internal Medicine, 151, 342-357.

Koss, M., Ingram, M., & Pepper, S. (2000). Male partner violence against women: Medical impact and the response of the health care system. In A. Baum & T. Reveson (Eds.), Handbook of Health Psychology (pp. 541-557). Mawah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Kurz, D. (1997). Violence against woman or family violence? Current debates. In L.L. O'Toole & J.R. Schiffman (Eds.), Gender violence: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 443-453). New York: New York University Press.

Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. New York: Springer.

Levenson, R.W., & Gottman, J.M. (1985). Marital interaction: Physiological and affective predictors of change in relationship satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 85-89.

Lloyd, S.A., & Emery, B.C. (1993). Abuse in the family: An ecological, life cycle perspective. In T.H. Brubaker (Ed.), Family relations: Challenges for the future (pp 129-1529). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Lown, E.A., & Veja, W.A. (2001). Intimate partner violence and health: Self-assessed health, chronic health, and somatic symptoms among Mexican American women. Psychosomatic Medicine, 63, 352-360.

Makepeace, J.M. (1981). Courtship violence among college students. Family Relations, 30, 97-102.

McCarthy, G., & Taylor, A. (1999). Avoidant/ambivalent attachment style as a mediator between abusive childhood experiences and adult relationship difficulties. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 465-477.

McCauley, J., Yurk, R., Jenckes, M., Ford, D. (1998). Inside "Pandora's Box": Abused women's experiences with clinicians and health services. Archives of Internal Medicine, 13, 549-555.

McClellan, A.C., & Killeen, M.R. (2000). Attachment theory and violence toward women by male intimate partners. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 32, 353-360.

Muehlenhard, C.L., & Linton, M.A. (1987). Date rape and sexual aggression in dating situations: Incidence and risk factors. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34, 186-196.

Paiva, C. & Figueiredo, B. (in preparation). Prevalência e cronicidade do abuso no relacionamento íntimo em jovens adultos portugueses.

Panksepp, J., Normansell, L., Herman, B., Bishop, P., & Crepeau, L. (1988). Neural and neurochemical control of the separation distress call. In J.D. Newman (Ed.), The physiological control of mammalian vocalization (pp. 263-299). New York: Plenum Press.

Reite, M., & Boccia, M. (1994). Physiological aspects of adult attachment. In M.B. Sperling & W.H. Berman (Eds.), Attachment in adults: Clinical and developmental perspectives. New York: Guilford Press.

Rennison, C.M., & Welchans, S. (2000). Intimate Partner Violence. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special report, U.S. Department of Justice, May.

Robinson, L. (2000). Interpersonal relationship quality in young adulthood: A gender analysis. Adolescence, 35, 775-784.

Rush, M.E. (2000). Young woman's experiences of dating violence: A phenomenological study. Dissertation Abstracts International, section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 60, 4524.

Russo, N.F. (1985). A women's mental health agenda. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.

Schore, A.N. (2001). The effects of a secure attachment relationship on right brain development affect regulation, and infant mental health. Infant Mental Health Journal, 22, 7-66.

Shapiro, B.L., & Schwarz, J.C. (1997). Date rape: Its relationship to trauma symptoms and sexual self-esteem. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, 407-419.

Shaver, P.R., & Hazan, C. (1993). Adult romantic attachment: Theory and evidence. In D. Perlman & W. Jones (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (pp. 29-70). London, England: Kingsley.

Simpson, J., Rholes, W.S., & Nelligan, J.S. (1992). Support seeking and support giving within couples in an anxiety-provoking situation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 434-446.

Stets, J.E. (1990). Verbal and physical aggression in marriage. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 501-514.

Stets, J.E., & Henderson, D.A. (1991). Contextual factors surrounding conflict resolution while dating: Results from a national study. Family Relations, 40, 29-36.

Straus, M.A., & Sweet, S. (1992). Verbal/simbolic aggression in couples: Incidence rates and relationships to personal characteristics. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 346-357.

Straus, M.A., Aldrighi, T., Borochowitz, D.Y., Brownridge, D.A., Chan, E.L., Figueiredo, B., Gagne, M.H., Galliher, R. V., Hebert, M., Jamieson, E., MacMillan, H.L., Laporte, L., Paiva, C, Ramirez, I.L., Trochme, N., Walsh, C., Yodanis, C.L. (2002). Physical and sexual assault on dating partners by university students in nine countries. Paper presented at the meeting of the European Society of Criminology. Toledo, Spain.

Straus, M.A., Hamby, S.L., Boney-McCoy, S., & Sugarman, D.B. (1996). The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2): Development and preliminary psychometric data. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 283-316.

Sugarman, D.B., & Hotaling, G.T. (1989). Dating violence: Prevalence, context and risk markers. In M.A. Pirog-Good & J.E. Stets (Eds.), Violence in dating relationships: Emerging social issues (pp 3-32). New York: Pareger.

Swinford, S.P., DeMaris, A., Cernkovich, S.A., & Giordano, P.C. (2000). Harsh physical discipline in childhood and violence in later romantic involvements: The mediating role of problem behaviors. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 508-519.

Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full report of the prevalence, incidence, and consequences of intimate partner violence against woman: Findings from the National Violence Against Woman Survey. National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.

Wekerle, C., & Wolfe, D. (1998). The role of child maltreatment and attachment style in adolescent relationship violence. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 571-586.

*Contactar para E-mail: cpaiva@iep.uminho.pt, bbfi@iep.uminho.pt

Este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o apoio da Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFR/BD/6943//2001).