The Theory of Stress and Coping Among Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence

1. The Theory of Stress and CopingAmong Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence Amanda Shortell December 17th, 2009 SB 721

2. What is stress? (2) • According to Lazarus: • Single or successive person-environment interactions • Always changing • Reciprocal: influence is bi-directional • Perceived by the individual to be demanding or overwhelm his or her personal resources and perhaps jeopardize well-being • Diverges from more mainstream concepts of stress as a stimulus, such as an event, diagnosis, an approaching deadline or an uncomfortable conversation, or as a response to a stimulus, for example anguish or worry

3. The Theory of Stress and CopingKey Concepts (1,2,3) • Stress • Person-Environment Interaction • Cognitive Appraisal • Primary appraisal • Irrelevant, harm or loss, threat, or challenge • Secondary appraisal • What can be done? • Coping: According to Lazarus and Folkman, “Coping refers to cognitive and behavioral efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the internal and/or external demands that are created by stressful transactions” (3, p.843). • Emotion-focused coping • Problem-focused coping • Other components to consider: • Control • Personal and environmental constraints • Extremity of threat

4. Coping Among Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) • Stress • Victimization by intimate partner violence • Cognitive Appraisal • Primary appraisal: A woman’s perception of the significance of IPV and the threat it poses as a stressor • Influenced by her dependence on her abuser, commitments to family or within a community, her beliefs about family values, religion, her racial/ethnic group or personal principles • Secondary appraisal: A woman’s personal evaluation of the situation, her options, control, and resources for dealing with the stressor • Coping • Emotion-focused coping • Ex: constructing positive comparisons, discredit the stakes at risk, and concentrating on positive outcomes of a negative situation • Problem-focused coping • Ex: problem-solving, decision-making, or direct action

5. Constraints of the Theory of Stress and Coping • In reality, the coping process cannot always be explained through theoretical definitions. • The theory lacks room for explaining outside factors dictating a situation and the choices available to women experiencing intimate partner violence, aside from merely acknowledging that they exist. • Coping, itself, is reactionary, so interventions at this point in a woman’s abusive relationship are also reactionary responses to a larger problem.

6. Survival-Focused Coping:Coping Among Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence • Proposed by researchers from Boston College and Harvard University • “Survival-focused coping is distinct from either emotion or problem-focused coping. Instead, it is aimed at surviving in the short term, meeting basic needs, and keeping oneself and one’s loved ones as safe as possible” (5, p.318) • Key component: “Microcontrol” (5) • Criticism: Makes females vulnerable to victim-blaming

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