ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Descriptive & Survey Study

Authors

Asaei   Sh. (1)
Naziryy   Gh. (*1)






(1) Clinical Psychology Department, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Clinical Psychology Department, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sadra Street, Shiraz, Iran.
Phone: -
Fax: -
naziryy@yahoo.com

Article History

Received:  October  15, 2019
Accepted:  July 25, 2020
ePublished:  September 5, 2020

BRIEF TEXT


Violence is defined as any action, individual or group activity that harms the life, mental, physical, or liberty of an individual or group, or the individual's personality development or adversely affects financial security. …[1].

….[2, 3]. Victims of violence suffer from psychological problems. Being abused have a greater risk to a person's mental health, physically, sexually, and economically, respectively, as well as it has more psychological problems for victims, including depression, anxiety, social dysfunction, stress, and more. These effects, in turn, lead to impaired decision-making power, following fear, the imposition of conditions, inability to solve problems, and in some cases suiciding [4]. ...[5]. A history of physical violence and the severity of non-physical abuse had a significant relationship with the frequency of suicide attempts. Sexual harassment also causes many negative consequences, including the risk of life-threatening behaviors such as suicidal ideation and suicide attempts [6]. Various factors can be the cause of men's violence against women. One of these reasons is addiction. Spouse drug addiction is one of the reasons for violence against women. People who drink alcohol are more likely to harass their partners [7]. A study by Clark et al. [8] showed which 72% and 29% of abused women experienced some form of a traumatic event and developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), respectively, and 16% of bused women experienced the symptoms of this disorder. The above symptoms lead to increased drug use and the prevalence of depression. A study by Clark et al. Showed that common symptoms of this disorder were associated with overdose of drugs such as methadone [8]. In the United States, Vitanza et al. Examined emotional anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder among rape victims. The sample of the study was 93 female victims. The results of this study showed that about 56% of women showed signs and symptoms of PTSD [9]. …[10].

The aim of this study was to compare the tendency to addiction and suicide in non-abused women with physically and sexually abused women referred to forensic medicine centers in Fars province.

This is a descriptive-cross-sectional study.

The statistical population of the study was women referred to forensic medicine centers in Fars province from October 2017 to June 2018.

According to the criterion of harassment as well as consent to participate in the research, 105 people with complaints of physical harassment (n=60) and sexual harassment (n=45), who were referred to forensic medicine centers in the west, east, and center of Fars province, were purposefully selected. Also, in order to compare these women with non-abused women, 60 women in various gathering spots, such as sports clubs and cultural centers in Shiraz city, completed the relevant questionnaires after expressing their willingness to cooperate with the researcher.

The research instrument included a theoretical questionnaire on attitudes toward addiction and drugs [11] and the Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency (MAST) Scale of Orbach et al [12]. Data were analyzed by SPSS 21 statistical software. The differences between the three groups in terms of addiction were investigated by the one-way analysis of variance. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine the differences between the three groups in terms of suicidal tendencies. The implementation of this test required the observance of some assumptions, therefore Box's M test was used to confirm the homogeneity of covariance matrices, and Levene's test was used to check the homogeneity of variances. In addition, a univariate analysis of variance was used to investigate the effect of the group on each of the variables. A two-pair study of the groups was performed by Scheffe's post-hoc test.

The average age of the subjects in the groups of physically abused, sexually abused, and the normal women were 29.55±5.78, 29.82±6.49, 46.77±6.04, respectively. In all three groups, the majority of the subjects were married. The education level of most people in the two groups of physically, sexually abused women was the high school degree, and in the normal women group was the diploma (Table 1).According to the mean scores, women in the physically abused group were more prone to addiction. The normal women group had a higher mean than the two abused women groups in terms of the components of life attraction and non-acceptance of death. The sexually abused women group had a higher mean score than the other two groups in terms of non-acceptance of life and death attraction (Table 2).There was a significant difference between the mean scores of addiction in the three groups (F=4.75; p=0.01), which trough the two-pair study of groups, the physically abused women group was significantly different from the normal women group (p<0.050). There was a significant difference between the groups in terms of all components of suicidal ideation (Table 3).In examining the effect of group on each of the variables, a difference was observed between the three groups (p=0.001) in all components of suicidal tendencies, including life attraction (F=10.73), non-acceptance of life (F=23.58), death attraction (F=17.00), and non-acceptance of death (F=7.74).In the two-pair study of the groups, a significant difference was observed between the physically and sexually abused women groups and the normal women group in terms of life attraction, non-acceptance of life, and death attraction. There was a significant difference in the component of non-acceptance of death between the physically abused and the normal women groups (p<0.05).

According to the results, there was a significant difference between the addiction tendencies in the three groups. The results of the Scheffe's post-hoc test also showed that the physically abused women group was different from the normal women group. Also, according to the means, the physically abused women group was more prone to addiction. The results of this study are in accordance with the research of Mir Arab [13]. This research is in line with the research of Hosseini & Najafi [14] and Karimi & Shalchi [7]. The results showed that the husband's addiction causes a lack of emotion and frustration in their spouses. These people minimize their sexual and emotional relationships and use limited communication skills in their relationships, which subsequently, the couple's incompatibility intensifies and causes violence and conflict between the couple. This study considers husbands' tendency to addiction as a cause of violence and shows that abused women do not have a tendency to use drugs [14]. Karimi & Shalchi's research [7] showed that spousal drug addiction is one of the causes of violence against women. Alcohol consumption and the use of other psychotropic substances are associated with an increased risk of violence. O'Farrell and Murphy, for example, found that more than 50% of men addicted to alcohol had domestic violence against their partner, and people who drink alcohol are more likely to harass their partners [15]….[16, 17]. Based on the findings of this study, there was a significant difference in all components of suicidal ideation in the three groups, and according to the means, in the components of life attraction and non-acceptance of death, the normal group had a higher mean than the two affected groups. However, the sexually abused group had a higher mean than the other two groups, in terms of non-acceptance of life and death attraction. The results of the Scheffe's post-hoc test also showed that the life attraction, non-acceptance of life, and the death attraction in physically and sexually abused women are different from normal people. There was also a significant difference in the component of non-acceptance of life between physically abused and sexually abused women. There was a significant difference between physically abused women with normal women in terms of non-acceptance of death. The first part of these results is in accordance with the findings of Ghasemi et al. [16], Agha Khani et al. [18], and Mohseni Tabrizi et al. [19].

The authors suggested the use of qualitative methods, interview, and observation in future research to obtain more objective and accurate results. Also, examining other psychological traumas caused by harassment, especially longitudinally, can reveal the aspects of this phenomenon.

This study had some limitations, including cultural and social considerations about harassment. The statistical sample was limited to people who had referred to forensic medicine. In addition, there were methodological limitations such as the use of the questionnaire, which can be accompanied by bias in answering. Therefore, the results of this research should be generalized with caution.

Physically and sexually abused women are more prone to suicide and addiction than non-abused women.

We are grateful to the officials and forensic experts who cooperated in conducting this research.

No cases have been reported by the authors.

The information obtained from the questionnaire is used only in groups and for research purposes. There was no need to mention the first and last names of the subjects in the questionnaires. Participants had complete freedom to participate in the study.

Financial resources for this research is provided by personal cost.

TABLES and CHARTS

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CITIATION LINKS

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