Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between three sources of social support (family, friends and religion/spirituality) among Latinas who had experienced domestic violence by an intimate partner. Eighty-six Latinas recruited from a community sample from general mental health facilities and facilities serving women who have been abused by an intimate partner completed questionnaires regarding demographic information, experiences in intimate relationships, depression symptoms, how they view themselves, and the emotional support received friends, family and their religion and/or spirituality. Participants were at least 18 years of age and had a history of domestic violence by an intimate partner. As expected, positive emotional support from family and from friends was associated with lower levels of depression and higher self-esteem among Latinas who experienced domestic violence. However, positive emotional support from religion/spirituality was found to be associated only with higher self-esteem among Latinas who experienced domestic violence. Results revealed that positive emotional support from family and from friends were negatively related to depression and positively related to self-esteem, while positive emotional support from religious or spiritual faith was positively related only to self-esteem. Two stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that only two of the predictor variables, positive emotional support from family and from friends, significantly contributed to predicting levels of depression and self-esteem. Positive emotional support from friends was the most significant predictor of levels of depression (17% of variance) while positive emotional support from family was the most significant predictor of self-esteem (23% of variance). Clinical implications, limitations and future directions for research were discussed.