Self-Esteem and Attitudes toward Love in Abused and Non-Abused Women.

This study sought to identify personality differences in abused versus non-abused women. Abused women (N=25) were from several centers for abused women and non-abused women (N=39) were students in evening psychology classes. All subjects completed Rubin's Love Scale, the abbreviated Dominance and Romanticism Scale, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and questions about emotional and physical abuse and personal history. It was hypothesized that abused women would score lower on the Self-Esteem Scale and higher on both the Love Scale and the Dominance and Romanticism Scale than non-abused women. In support of the hypothesis, both the physically and emotionally abused groups were significantly lower in self-esteem than the non-abused groups. Both the physically and emotionally abused groups were more likely to endorse beliefs of dominance and romanticism than the non-abused groups. The hypothesis that abused women would score higher on the Love Scale was not supported; the physically and emotionally abused groups were significantly lower on the Love Scale score than the non-abused groups. Both the physically and the emotionally abused groups were significantly lower on the Love Scale score than the non-abused groups and both were significantly older than the non-abused groups. Although experience of abuse was confounded with age, age was not significantly correlated with any of the dependent measures. (Author/ABL)