Life models analysis as a method of researching domestic violence

Existing instruments for studying the experience of domestic violence may not be sufficiently adapted to capture the diverse aspects of the phenomenon. Such an instrument should be oriented to contemporary cultural and social contexts, allowing for a full exploration of the effects of disruptive experiences in different areas of a person’s life. The article is a theoretical analysis of the problem of domestic violence research. The paper presents a developed research design based on the concept of life patterns and two key components – existential guilt and lost Possible Selves. The paper concludes with empirical data from a pilot study as an illustration of the proposed design. The pilot study involved 20 participants; the criterion for selecting respondents was the fact of having experienced domestic violence by a sibling. The results were based on the selected methods: “Methodology for determining general and social self-efficacy”, “Diagnostics of interpersonal relations”, “Interpersonal relations questionnaire”, “Life orientations” questionnaire, as well as “Possible Self Diagnostic Methodology”. The data were processed using comparative, correlation, discriminant and regression analyses. The study showed high sensitivity to the developed research design and allowed to identify the group of respondents with experience of domestic violence through the specifics of their life patterns, which differ from the group of respondents without experience of violence. For example, respondents with experience of domestic violence have a greater need for emotional and psychological support from family, social groups and communities, compared to respondents without such experience, who tend to be independent.

life models, domestic violence, sibling, experience, existential guilt, Possible selves