Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Literature Review: Analyzing The Reasons For Returning To Abusive Partners, Ailaina Herman

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

This paper reviews published literature on the myths associated with domestic violence, the internal and external reasons why women return to their abusers, and resources available to them. Social stigmas that exist claim women stay in abusive relationships because they enjoy the attention and that women deserve the punishment inflicted due to their lack of action (Policastro & Payne, 2013). The consequences of these stigmas involve feelings of unworthiness, less social support and discouragement from seeking assistance (Meyer, 2016). Internal factors include emotional attachment, forgiveness, and childhood sexual abuse while external factors are based in economic dependence; each of these …