Understanding the Relationship between Domestic Abuse and Suicide Behavior in Adults Receiving Primary Care: Does Forgiveness Matter?

• Published in: Social work (New York) Vol. 59; no. 4; pp. 315 - 320
• Main Authors: Chang, Edward C., Kahle, Emma R., Yu, Elizabeth A., Hirsch, Jameson K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States NASW PRESS 01.10.2014; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Abusive behavior; Adolescent; Adult; Adult care services; Behavior; Bootstrap method; Depressive disorders; Domestic violence; Female; Forgiveness; Humans; Male; Mediation; Medically Underserved Area; Middle Aged; Models, Psychological; Patients; Primary care; Primary Health Care; Psychiatry; Self; Self Concept; Southeastern United States; Spouse Abuse - psychology; Statistics as Topic; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide; Suicide, Attempted - prevention & control; Suicide, Attempted - psychology; Suicides & suicide attempts; Young Adult; Southeastern United States; United States > US; domestic abuse; forgiveness of self; forgiveness of others; suicide behavior
• ISSN: 0037-8046; 1545-6846
• DOI: 10.1093/sw/swu028

This study examined the interrelation of domestic abuse, forgiveness of self, forgiveness of others, and suicide behavior in a community sample of 101 patients receiving primary care from a clinic in the southeastern United States. As expected, it was found that more frequent experience of domestic abuse was associated with more frequent suicide behavior. Results from conducting mediation analyses and using bootstrapping techniques provided support for a model in which the relationship between domestic abuse and suicide behavior was accounted for by forgiveness of self, but not by forgiveness of others. The article concludes with a discussion of some of the implications of the present findings for practice and the study's limitations.