Perceived Social Support for Abused Women

Abstract

Perceived social support is an important and effective resource that individuals need to cope with various life pressures. Therefore, the type of support an individual receives—whether emotional, personal, or social—influences their assessment of the events they experience and helps them improve their abilities and skills in coping with stress and dealing with it positively. To achieve the study's objectives, a multidimensional scale of perceived social support, based on a five-point Likert scale, was used and applied to a randomly selected sample of (46) abused girls and women. Additionally, a questionnaire consisting of (45) items distributed across two domains was administered to a purposive sample of (198) female graduate students to ascertain their perspective on the level of perceived social support for abused women. Responses were provided according to the variables. The results showed a statistically significant correlation between perceived social support and the development and empowerment of abused women's capabilities. In light of the results, a set of recommendations and suggestions were developed that may contribute to addressing the current problem.