Intimate Partner Violence in Tunisia: Emotional Abuse and Dependency, Alexithymia, and Self-Esteem in Female Victims

Despite legislative advances in Tunisia, intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a widespread issue where cultural norms and systems often reinforce silence and male authority over women. This study aims to explore the characteristics of IPV and assess the emotional abuse, emotional dependency, alex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social sciences (Basel) 2024-10, Vol.13 (10), p.503
Main Authors: Guermazi, Fatma, Tabib, Faten, Cherif, Farah, Masmoudi, Rim, Mnif, Dorra, Feki, Ines, Baati, Imen, Masmoudi, Jawaher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alexithymia
Conjugal violence
Domestic violence
Emergency services
Emotional abuse
emotional dependency
Emotions
Females
Gender-based violence
Husbands
Intimate partner violence
Measures
Mental disorders
Mental health
Murders & murder attempts
Observational studies
Personality
Personality traits
Psychological aspects
Self esteem
Social aspects
Social norms
Trauma
Victims
Wife abuse
Women
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Summary:Despite legislative advances in Tunisia, intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a widespread issue where cultural norms and systems often reinforce silence and male authority over women. This study aims to explore the characteristics of IPV and assess the emotional abuse, emotional dependency, alexithymia, and self-esteem among female victims. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study, involving 120 female victims of IPV who sought expertise at the Psychiatric Emergency Department in Sfax, Tunisia. The data were collected through individual medical visits using the Emotional Abuse Scale (EAS), the Emotional Dependence Questionnaire (EDQ), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Of the 120 women who agreed to participate in this study, 75.8% were affected by severe emotional violence, 38.3% were emotionally dependent on their spouses, 59.2% were alexithymic, and 83.3% had low self-esteem. The emotional abuse scores were positively correlated with emotional dependency scores (p = 0.026; rho = 0.204). The presence of alexithymia among the victims was significantly correlated with their emotional dependency on their husbands (p = 0.004). Our findings confirm that considering women’s emotional profiles can have important implications for designing both preventive and effective interventions.
ISSN:2076-0760
2076-0760
DOI:10.3390/socsci13100503