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Experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship

Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.

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Other Authors: Gcabo, R.P.E. (Rebone Prella Ethel)
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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author2 Gcabo, R.P.E. (Rebone Prella Ethel)
author_browse Gcabo, R.P.E. (Rebone Prella Ethel)
author_facet Gcabo, R.P.E. (Rebone Prella Ethel)
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
format Thesis
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
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license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/28287 Experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship Gcabo, R.P.E. (Rebone Prella Ethel) fmlombo@gmail.com Mlombo, Fikile Ethel Domestic violence Physical abuse Emotional abuse Sexual abuse Marital abuse Coping mechanisms Marital relationship UCTD Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. This study aims to explore the experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationships. The study also aimed to explore the reasons black women attach towards remaining in marital abusive relationships. Even though our current democratic Government has put efforts towards fighting against domestic abuse, South Africa is still characterised by high rates of domestic abuse. In South Africa a woman has about one in three chances of being violated in her life time, which puts it amongst the highest statistics of violence in the world, with one in six women standing a chance of being abused by her intimate partner in her lifetime (People Opposing Women Abuse, 2005). Domestic abuse does not just involve minor forms of physical assault, but, frequently, serious injury and even death. According to statistics from the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation at Wits University, one woman is murdered by her partner every six days in the Gauteng province in South Africa. Qualitative approach, as well as literature review and in-depth interviews have been used in order to study the experiences of abused women in the Mpumalanga province at KwaMhlanga. The theoretical approach used was (i) Social Learning Theories which focused on the mechanisms whereby family members influences each other through modelling, reinforcement and coercion to behave violently, (ii) The feminist theory in which the origins of abuse included stereotyping and patriarchal values, (iii) the General Systems Theory which demonstrates that abuse cannot be explained by focusing on an individual level, but rather that systems interact and as they interact, they influence the reaction of others. General System’s theory was used as the backdrop of the study because it provided a broader understanding of how abuse occurs within a family system and hence allowed the researcher to explore the experiences and coping mechanisms of women who remain in abusive marital relationships. Snowball sampling was used to recruit participants. The criteria included that the participants were currently in abusive marital relationships and had at least a tertiary qualification and were employed in middle management job position. Nine participants were interviewed using individual in depth interviews. The interviews were audio recorded and field notes were taken. Data was analysed qualitatively. Five broad categories formed a framework for the analysis. (i) The Experiences of abused women, (ii) the Impact of remaining in an abusive relationship, (iii) the Meaning attached to staying, (iv) the Coping mechanisms used by abused women, (v) and Social support. The themes were coded in form of numbers, counting the number of times the theme occurs in an interview, data was collected until a level of saturation was reached. The themes were then compared and integrated with the literature. The study concludes that abuse occurs in all social groups and that a complexity of factors contribute towards black middle class women resorting to remaining in marital abusive relationships, for example, culture and societal beliefs and structures, personality factors, and lack of support. Psychology unrestricted 2013-09-07T13:14:23Z 2010-09-29 2013-09-07T13:14:23Z 2010-09-03 2010-09-29 2010-09-29 Dissertation Mlombo, FE 2010, Experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship, MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/28287 > F10/642/gm http://hdl.handle.net/2263/28287 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09292010-152425/ © 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Domestic violence
Physical abuse
Emotional abuse
Sexual abuse
Marital abuse
Coping mechanisms
Marital relationship
UCTD
Experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship
title Experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship
title_full Experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship
title_fullStr Experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship
title_full_unstemmed Experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship
title_short Experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship
title_sort experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationship
topic Domestic violence
Physical abuse
Emotional abuse
Sexual abuse
Marital abuse
Coping mechanisms
Marital relationship
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/28287
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09292010-152425/