Relationship Between Spouse Abuse and Depressive Symptoms in Women: The Moderating Role of Personality Characteristics

Spouse abuse against women is the most prevalent type of family violence, and its harmful consequences threaten both women’s health and their well-being in family and society. It is very important to find the factors that eliminate these deleterious effects and protect women’s health. The aim of this study was to explore the moderator effect of personality characteristics in the relationship between spouse abuse and symptoms of depression among women.
For this purpose, 300 married women were provided with questionnaires measuring spouse abuse, depression symptoms (Beck depression inventory) and personality characteristics (NEO-FFI).
According to the results, depressive symptoms in women were correlated with spouse abuse. Agreeableness was found to serve as a moderator between spouse abuse and depressive symptoms.
From these findings, one can conclude that women who experience spouse abuse suffer from depressive symptoms. The battered women who were more agreeable experience less depressive symptoms.