Partner Abuse And Mental Health Correlates: A study Among Sikkimese Married Women

Abstract

The study aims todetermine the predictability of common health problems of Sikkimese married women from marital adjustment, partner abuse and social support. A sample of 160 married women was drawn from the east and south districts of Sikkim. The study employs the psychological measures of the Community Composite Abuse Scale (CCA:Loxton, et. al,2013), Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS:Busby, et. al, 1995), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS: Zimet, et. al, 1988) and General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12:Goldberg, et al, 1997). The preliminary psychometric check revealed high positive correlation coefficients for the original and the translated versions of the psychological measures. Statistical analyses showthe predictability of general health characteristics from: education as a demographic variable; satisfaction sub-scale of marital adjustment;emotional abuse; and social support from Family and Friends. Higher education and marital satisfaction predicted the trends of lower levels of common mental health problems. However, the experience of emotional abuse predicted increased common mental health problems. Finally, the social support from family and friends significantly predicted better general health or lower levels of common mental health problems, regardless of emotional abuse experienced.