@article{ref1,
title="Psychological Abuse, Self-Esteem, and Women's Dating Relationship Outcomes: A Comparison of the Self-Verification and Self-Enhancement Perspectives",
journal="Psychology of women quarterly",
year="2000",
author="Katz, Jennifer and Arias, Ileana and Beach, Steven R. H.",
volume="24",
number="4",
pages="349-357",
abstract="Self-verification theory implies that people with negative self-views may be drawn to abusive partners who mistreat them. However, abusive partner behavior differs from the types of partner feedback typically examined within a self-verification framework, which could render generalization to abuse problematic. We propose that self-enhancement theory better accounts for the effects of abuse on relationship outcomes. Self-enhancement theory suggests that people are drawn to others who treat them favorably, regardless of people's own self-views. We investigated the effects of abusive feedback from dating partners, relative to women's self-esteem levels, on relationship intimacy and stability. Predictions based on both self-verification and self-enhancement theories were tested cross-sectionally and with a subsample of women 6 weeks after the initial assessment. Results were most consistent with self-enhancement theory; partner abuse was related to lesser relationship stability and intimacy. More limited support was obtained for self-verification theory. Importantly, women with lower self-esteem did not endorse greater stability or intimacy as a function of receiving psychological abuse. We conclude that self-enhancement theory better explains the link between psychological abuse and relationship outcomes, although self-verification theory may account for reactions to other types of partner behavior.<p />",
language="",
issn="0361-6843",
doi="10.1111/j.1471-6402.2000.tb00217.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2000.tb00217.x"
}