Women victims of domestic violence: The contribution of staying in shelter and psychological distress to a parenting style change.

Violence against women in the family is a widespread societal phenomenon (Eisikovits & Fishman, 2004). One of the significant outcomes of this phenomenon is the mother’s impaired ability to function. As a result, the mother’s style of parenting is also affected (Rohner & Khaleque, 2005). The literature provides contradictory evidence with regard to the parenting style of battered women and the level to which the violence influences their parenting. On one hand, the literature describes how life in the shadows of violence reduces the emotional and physical availability of mothers and their ability to meet the children’s needs (Peled & Barak-Gil, 2011; Radford & Hester, 2001). On the other hand, women who have been the victims of violence are described as being able to function successfully as mothers and provide a high level of emotional sensitivity to their children, despite the violence (Letourneau, Fedick & Willms, 2007; Levendosky, Huth-Bocks, Shapiro & Semel, 2003; Sullivan, Nguyen, Allen, Allen & Juras, 2000).

Shelters for battered women serve an important role in assisting these women with, among other things, improving their ability to parent their children. Many women view such shelters as critical in saving their lives and make full use of the services provided to them at the shelter (Gordon, 1996). At the same time, there is criticism regarding the work of these shelters and their ability to provide assistance (Tutty, 1993). Therefore, the contribution of these shelters and their ability to change a woman’s parenting style remains unclear.

Additionally, one of the questions arising from both the literature and work in the field is which factors contribute to improving a woman’s style of parenting. This study, based on an ecological model, will try to identify these factors within the various frameworks of these women’s lives. The study will take into account the battered women’s surroundings within shelters as well as the emotional distress they experience.

Shelters provide a variety of different services available to battered women and children. These shelter services can be categorized into tangible services, help with legal assistance and emotional support. In reviewing the research literature to date, thus far a study has not been conducted to determine the contribution of different types of assistance in improving the parenting styles of women living in these shelters.

In addition to determining the contribution of the services provided by shelters, it is important to research the amount of time a woman must be housed within a shelter in order to experience an improvement in her emotional and physical well-being. Various studies point to an ongoing level of improvement in the functioning and emotional state of women for as long as they stayed in the shelter (Garza, 2002; McNamara, Ertl, Marsh & Walker, 1997). However, there are no studies researching the correlation between time spent in a shelter and an improvement in a woman’s parenting style.

Research literature shows that many battered women suffer from emotional distress, including PTSD and depression (Golding, 1999). From the limited number of research conducted in the field, studies have shown a correlation between the level of emotional distress a woman is experiencing and her ability to function as a mother (Levendosky & Gramam- Bermann, 2001; Levendosky et al., 2003). Thus far, no studies have been conducted regarding the correlation between a change in a mother’s style of parenting during her stay at a shelter and the level of emotional distress the mother feels when first entering the shelter.

As such, the goal of this study is to examine the contribution of both a woman’s stay in a shelter and the services she receives during her stay in changing her style of parenting. Additionally, the study will determine a woman’s emotional distress contribution at the time she enters the shelter has on her style of parenting. More specifically, it is hypothesized that the study’s results will show an improvement in a mother’s style of parenting during the time she is living in the shelter. Additionally, it is expected that the longer a woman stays in the shelter and the more services she utilizes, the greater the level of improvement in her style of parenting. Likewise, it is expected that women with lower levels of emotional distress when entering the shelter will experience greater levels of improvement in their parenting styles. Given the lack of existing evidence, we determined the category of services that most significantly influences improvement in parenting styles within the existing services provided by shelters. In addition, we examined the level to which the utilization of services provided by the shelter plays a mitigating role between emotional distress and improvement in a mother’s parenting style. Finally, we addressed the background variables of the women and determined the influence these variables had on improving the women’s parenting styles throughout their stay in the shelter.

76 mothers with children between the ages of 3-17 participated in the study. Each of the women is a victim of violence in the family and lived in various battered women’s shelters throughout Israel between the years of 2009-2012. Their participation in the study took place from the time they entered the shelter until the time they left.

The results of the study point to a contradicting trend between the main elements of a parenting style. findings show that women who arrive at shelters with a high level of parental control, of which her children are beneficiaries, also express a low level of parental warmth towards their children. Generally, the study found that there was not a significant change in the style of parenting of women during their stay at the shelter. Nevertheless, when examining the change with regard to varying characteristics of the women and the length of their stay in the shelter, results point to several trends.

Firstly, the study found a clear correlation between the length of a woman’s stay in the shelter, together with her utilization of the shelter’s services, and greater improvement in the level of parental warmth that the women expressed towards her children. On the other hand, with regard to parental control, the study found a clear, non-linear correlation between staying in the shelter for too long or too short of a period and a worsening of parental behavioral patterns. Additionally, there was a clear negative correlation between significant utilization of the shelter’s services and a deterioration of the mother’s parental control behavioral patterns towards her children. Nevertheless, spending a period of up to 9 months in the shelter was shown to have a clear positive correlation to improvement in parental control. Likewise, tangible services were found to be the category of services that provided the most positive contribution to improving the level of parental warmth a mother expressed towards her children.

Furthermore, with regard to the level of emotional distress a battered woman experienced upon her arrival at the shelter, a distinction was made between the two types of distress - PTSD and depression. The results showed a clear negative correlation between a low level of PTSD upon arrival at the shelter and the level of improvement in levels of parental warmth. Nevertheless, with regard to depression, the study surprisingly showed that there is a clear positive correlation between a high level of depression upon arrival and greater improvement in the levels of parental warmth..

Finally, the study found that several background variables related a woman’s characteristics contributed to an improvement in her style of parenting. Results showed that there is a clear positive correlation between the age of the woman, the physical violence she experienced, the length of time during which she was battered and the improvement in her parenting style during her stay at the shelter. Additionally, there is a clear negative correlation between income levels and improved parenting styles.

In conclusion, this study examines a battered woman’s parenting style during her stay at a shelter. The results point to a correlation between an improvement in a woman’s parenting style and her personal characteristics and the environment of the shelter. It appears that the variables that contribute most to improving parenting styles are the woman’s age, her level of PTSD upon entering the shelter, and the amount of time she lives at the shelter. It is important to note that this study points to contradictory trends between the two main elements of parenting styles - parental warmth and parental control.

This study is unique in that it is a long-term study that examines the battered woman’s perspective throughout her stay at the shelter. Also, this study focuses on the aspect of motherhood among battered women and as such contributes to the limited research-based knowledge that exists in this field. Results of this study reveal the need for additional research of this subject from other perspectives.

Results of this study are likely to contribute to a renewed evaluation of parenting-related intervention within battered women’s shelters, and will serve to clarify the importance and opportunity that the shelter’s staff has to work therapeutically with women regarding parenting. It will also clarify the importance models for interpersonal relationships play for battered women and their children during their stay at a shelter.