Abstract
Coping styles play an important role in maintaining the mental health of individuals however, the stressors such as domestic violence may adversely affect the use of effective coping mechanisms. Hence, this comparative study was conducted to evaluate coping strategies used by women with and without domestic violence. Based on the existing literature, the hypotheses formulated were: (1) women with domestic violence will score higher on emotion focused coping as compared to women without domestic violence (2) Women with domestic violence will score lower on problem focused coping as compared to women without domestic violence. The sample (N=150) comprised of two groups: women with domestic violence (n = 75; Age M=33.20; SD=10.73) were recruited using purposive sampling technique from different NGO’s and women without domestic violence (n = 75; Age M=28.69; SD=9.23) were recruited using snowball sampling technique from general population. The participants completed the Domestic Violence Scale (Hussain, 1998) and Coping Styles Scale (Zaman, 2015) with demographic data sheet. The result of independent sample t-test indicated that women with domestic violence scored lower on emotion focused coping as compared to women without domestic violence (p <.05) with medium effect (d = -.40). Likewise, women with domestic violence scored lower on problem focused coping as compared to women without domestic violence (p <.05) with large effect (d = -.87). The findings of the study imply the effect of domestic violence on the use of coping response styles thus indicating the need of considering coping response styles of women while formulating effective therapeutic strategies in context of their well-being.