Psychological and social aspects of disease prevention
zahra Bahrami; Parvaneh ghodsi; Fariba Hassani
Abstract
Objective: One kind of violence and social injury that harms the victim and the family's physical and mental well-being is domestic violence. Years after the violence has stopped, its repercussions may still be felt. The purpose of this research was to examine the structural model of childhood emotional ...
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Objective: One kind of violence and social injury that harms the victim and the family's physical and mental well-being is domestic violence. Years after the violence has stopped, its repercussions may still be felt. The purpose of this research was to examine the structural model of childhood emotional abuse on psychological distress with the mediation of executive functions in women victims of domestic violence.
Method: This study was a descriptive-correlational study conducted using structural equation modeling (SEM). The statistical population included 650 women referred to Social Emergency Welfare Centers (123) in Tehran in 2023 (1402 in the Iranian calendar). Participants were selected purposively based on predefined criteria. Data were collected using the Childhood Emotional Abuse Questionnaire, Executive Function Questionnaire, Short Form Domestic Violence Screening Scale, and Psychological Distress Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SEM and model fit indices in AMOS software.
Results: The model fit indices for the causal model of psychological distress based on childhood emotional abuse, mediated by executive functions in women with domestic violence experiences, were greater than 0.90—indicating acceptable and desirable values. The findings show that the direct, indirect, and total effects in the model of executive functions in the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and psychological distress were significant at the 0.05 level.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that childhood emotional abuse significantly contributes to psychological distress in women who have experienced domestic violence, with executive functions mediating this relationship. These results highlight the importance of interventions targeting executive functioning to mitigate the enduring psychological effects of early emotional maltreatment in this population.
