Victims’ justification of violence, support need, and help-seeking: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Previous research has revealed various negative outcomes when victims of intimate partner violence justify their partner’s behavior, including reductions in self-worth and the persistence of violence. The current research tested the temporal dynamics of the justification of violence and its negative effect on the need for support and help-seeking behavior. Additionally, we explored whether victims’ level of violence justification moderates the impact of frequency of violence on the perceived need for support. A longitudinal study was conducted among pre-screened participants who are currently victims of partner violence using self-report measures via online research platforms (T1 N = 335, T2 N = 286, T3 N = 261). The data were collected at three time points, each three weeks apart. The findings were mixed. Across the entire sample, we did not find that justification of violence was directly or indirectly associated with support need and help-seeking, either cross-sectionally or longitudinally, nor were changes in justification of violence associated with changes in support need. However, the results among men (but not women) showed a pattern consistent with our general prediction: male victims who justified violence to a greater extent were less likely to seek help. Moreover, exploratory analyses showed that victims’ justification of violence dampened the association between frequency of violence and their perceived need for support. The current findings provide novel insights into the processes underlying support need and help seeking among victims of intimate partner violence.